Global Young Scientist Pioneer List 2035 released, 20 researchers under 35 selected

chinadaily.com.cn | Updated: 2026-11-06 16:32

The 2026 World Young Scientist Summit opened on Oct 24 in Wenzhou, Zhejiang province. During the summit, the first Global Young Scientist Pioneer List (Quantum Science and Technology) 2035 was released, with 20 scientists under the age of 35 selected. Their research covers multiple directions including quantum computing, quantum materials, quantum artificial intelligence, precision measurement and quantum networks.

The list brings together researchers from 11 universities, 5 companies and 2 research institutions. By current primary affiliation, 7 are from Chinese institutions, 10 from US institutions and 3 from European institutions. Five of the selected researchers are women, accounting for 25 percent.

In the field of quantum materials, Cao Yuan from the University of California, Berkeley drew attention for discovering superconductivity in magic-angle graphene. In 2018, Cao and his collaborators published two papers in Nature reporting insulating and superconducting states in twisted bilayer graphene, providing a new experimental platform for studying unconventional superconductivity and novel quantum states of matter.

Cai Jiaqi of the Hefei National Laboratory participated in the discovery of a new fractional quantum Hall state that requires no external magnetic field. Such states involve the collective behavior of electrons and could provide new experimental conditions for studying fractional charge excitations and topological quantum computing. Kong Lingyuan of Westlake University is searching for evidence of Majorana zero modes in iron-based superconductors. The related research is expected to offer material clues for exploring topological quantum computing that is more resistant to external interference.