On May 29, Prof. Xiaoming Feng won the Tan Kah Kee Science Award in Chemistry. His award winning project is “New Dominant Dinitrogen Ligands and Efficient Asymmetric Catalysis".

The 2020 Tan Kah Kee Science Award was awarded to five projects, and six people received the Tan Kah Kee Young Scientist Award. Specifically, Xiaoming Feng won the Tan Kah Kee Science Award in Chemistry; Yuanning Gao of Peking University won the Tan Kah Kee Science Award in Mathematics; Life Sciences Award went to Yigong Shi of Tsinghua University /the Westlake University. Earth Sciences Award went to Rixiang Zhu, Institute of Geology and Geophysics, CAS, and Technological Sciences Award to Jianbin Luo of Tsinghua University. The Information Technological Science Award is vacant.

Professor Xiaoming Feng is an academician of CAS,a fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistryand winner of the National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars. His research is mainly focused on asymmetric catalytic synthesis. His important achievements are in the design and synthesis of new chiral ligands and catalysts, asymmetric catalytic reactions, efficient and highly selective synthesis of chiral drugs and physiologically active compounds. Some of his research has produced original results, such as "Feng’s catalyst" and the "Roskamp-Feng reaction", which are recognized by international peers. Furthermore, he has achieved a breakthrough from 0 to 1, greatly contributing to the rapid development of asymmetric catalysis and the promotion of China's international status in this field.

The predecessor of Tan Kah Kee Science Award is the Tan Kah Kee Award. Being approved by the State Council of PRC,Tan Kah Kee Science Award was set up in Feb. 2003 by the Tan Kah Kee Science Award Foundation. Both Tan Kah Kee Science Award and Tan Kah Kee Young Scientist Award are presented in 6 fields and selected every two years. Each award is selected one at a time, and the number of winners is generally one, not more than three people at most. If no candidate meets the standard, the award can be vacant.