On the afternoon of May 18, the press conference for the 2026 International Congress of Basic Science (ICBS 2026) was held at Tsinghua University, officially announcing the 2026 ICBS Medal and Frontiers of Science Award winners. Nine world-class scientists from China and abroad were honored with the ICBS Medal. Among them, Claire Voisin, Horng-Tzer Yau, and Shou-Wu Zhang received the ICBS Medal in Mathematics; Andrea J. Liu, Yifang Wang, and Xiao-gang Wen received the ICBS Medal in Physics; and Zhenan Bao, Xiaowei Zhuang, and Feng Zhang received the ICBS Medal in Engineering. In addition, 118 outstanding papers were selected for the Frontiers of Science Award, showcasing breakthrough achievements and vigorous development in basic science worldwide.
As the inaugural award established in 2026, the ICBS Medal aims to honor scientists worldwide who have achieved revolutionary, breakthrough results in basic science, paying tribute to their outstanding contributions to scientific progress. The obverse of the medal features the portrait of a towering figure in science, while the reverse is engraved with the motto “For Truth and Beauty” (钩玄穷理，搜美求真), symbolizing scientists’ unwavering commitment to the persistent pursuit of truth and the relentless exploration of ultimate beauty in their quest to uncover the profound laws of the universe.
The award covers three fields—mathematics, physics, and engineering—with three medals in each field. The medals are named after nine towering figures in science: Emmy Noether, Shiing-Shen Chern, and Andrew Wiles (mathematics); Marie Curie, Samuel C.C. Ting, and David Gross (physics); and Chien-Shiung Wu, Steven Chu, and Charles K. Kao (engineering). Notably, each field features one medal named after a distinguished woman scientist. This year, four women scientists—Claire Voisin, Andrea J. Liu, Zhenan Bao, and Xiaowei Zhuang—were honored, fully demonstrating the scientific community’s high respect for women researchers and showcasing the outstanding power of women in basic science.
Shing-Tung Yau, President of ICBS; Caucher Birkar, Fields Medalist and Professor at Tsinghua University; Jun Cao, Director of the Institute of High Energy Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences; and Huajian Gao, Director of the Interdisciplinary Institute of Mechanics and Engineering at Tsinghua University and Member of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering, attended the press conference, providing in-depth interpretation of the groundbreaking contributions of the ICBS Medal winners.
To ensure the authority and impartiality of the award selection process, the ICBS Organizing Committee invited scholars from around the world who have made outstanding contributions to scientific development to participate in the nomination and review process. Academician Shing-Tung Yau served as Chair of the Review Committee, with three global field committees, a nomination committee, and evaluation committees for 40 sub-disciplines established under his leadership. Following multiple rounds of rigorous discussion, layered screening, and strict review, the final selections were determined from global nominations: 9 ICBS Medal recipients and 118 Frontiers of Science Award-winning papers. The 2026 nomination and review panel comprised top scholars from dozens of countries and regions, including China, the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Japan, and Switzerland, among them members of national academies of sciences and recipients of premier international honors such as the Fields Medal, Turing Award, and Wolf Prize—fully reflecting the Congress’s uncompromising pursuit of academic rigor and international credibility.
At the press conference, the 2026 Frontiers of Science Award was also unveiled. Established in 2023, this award focuses on 40 sub-disciplines across three fields—mathematics, physics, and information science and engineering—selecting high-level original papers published in top international journals within the past decade to honor researchers who have made outstanding academic contributions to basic science. In 2026, the Congress received over 4,000 valid nominations. Each winning paper was selected through nearly two months of rigorous review and voting by three independent international expert panels, adhering throughout to the principles of fairness, impartiality, and transparency.
This year, a total of 118 outstanding papers in 40 basic and applied research directions received the Frontiers of Science Award, including 76 in mathematics, 22 in physics, and 20 in engineering. More than 500 winning authors from universities, research institutes, and corporate R&D institutions in China, the United States, France, the United Kingdom, Germany, Switzerland, Canada, Japan, Israel, Australia, and other countries and regions were recognized. Authors from Chinese universities and research institutions—including Tsinghua University, Peking University, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the University of Science and Technology of China, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, and Fudan University—received the Frontiers of Science Award, demonstrating the international influence and vitality of China’s basic science research.
To discover and inspire young and mid-career innovative talent in basic science, the International Congress of Basic Science announced the establishment of the ICBS Innovation Science Award. This award targets outstanding research talents under the age of 50 working full-time in China who demonstrate innovative potential in basic science and frontier interdisciplinary fields such as mathematics, physics, and information science. To be presented for the first time in 2026, the award plans to select 10 recipients; each winner will receive prize money and research funding support, and will select one of the following collaborating institutions—the Yau Mathematical Sciences Center at Tsinghua University, Beijing Institute of Mathematical Sciences and Applications (BIMSA), Shanghai Institute for Mathematics and Interdisciplinary Sciences, Institute of Mathematical Sciences at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hetao Institute of Mathematics and Interdisciplinary Sciences (Shenzhen), or Institute of High Energy Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences—to conduct residency research within the agreed timeframe. The final list of winners will be officially announced at the ICBS closing ceremony.
Since its inaugural edition in 2023, the International Congress of Basic Science (ICBS) has been permanently based in Huairou. The 2026 International Congress of Basic Science will be held from August 9 to 21, 2026, at Huairou Science City in Beijing.