Ever since 1959 when physicist Richard Feynman made known the concept of nanotechnology, nanotechnology has always been a hot research topic in applied sciences that is gaining momentum even till today. Prof. Bai Chun Li, contemporary renowned physical chemist, has been deeply involved in the research of an important area of nanotechnology – the scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) – and has become a leading pioneer in the field.

Prof. Bai Chun Li graduated in 1978 from the Department of Chemistry of Beijing University, in 1985 he received a doctor’s degree in structural chemistry from the Chemistry Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and, from 1985 to 1987, he was a post-doctor and visiting scholar in the California Institute of Technology, U.S.A., conducting STM research in the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Prof. Bai was the first President of the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences; from 2013 to 2015, he was President of the World Academy of Sciences (TWAS), making him the first Chinese scientist to be appointed this post by the TWAS over the past 30 years since the founding of the Academy. Prof. Bai was elected to be an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 1997, and has been President of the Chinese Academy of Sciences since 2011. Currently, he also holds several important positions, such as Honorary President of the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chief Scientist of the National Nanotechnology Coordination Committee, and others. Prof. Bai has also been given a great many international honors, including Foreign Academician of the American Academy of Sciences in 2006, Honorary Fellow of the British Royal Society of Chemistry in 2007, Foreign Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences in 2008, Academician of the National Academy of Engineering, Germany in 2011, Foreign Fellow of the Royal Danish Academy of Science and Letters in 2012, Foreign Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science in 2013, Foreign Member of the British Royal Society in 2014, and Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 2015.

In nanotechnology, Prof. Bai conducted research in areas such as polymer catalyst structure and property, organic compounds of crystal structure X-ray diffraction, molecular mechanics and conductive polymers of EXAFS, and others. From the mid-1980s, he switched his research interest to an important area of nanotechnology – the scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) – where he mainly focuses on scanning probe microscopy techniques, molecular nano-structure and nanotechnology research. He successfully supervised the development of computer-controlled STM. In the meantime, he collaborated with the Laboratory of Electronic Microscopes, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and succeeded in developing another STM. Afterwards, he led his research team and successfully developed China’s first atomic force microscope (AFM), first Laser-AFM, low-temperature scanning tunneling microscope, ballistic electron emission microscope, ultra-high vacuum scanning probe microscope, and other kinds of scanning probe microscopes. Such research achievements solved a series of key technological difficulties, using innovative designs that are different from foreign products of the same series. Additionally, Prof. Bai established the Benyuan Micro Instrument Developing Center, which could efficiently place the whole-machine STMs, produced by the Center, in the international market.

As an outstanding contemporary nanotechnology expert, Prof. Bai has generated countless research achievements and works, and won a great many awards. He’s published 12 books (in Chinese and English) at home and abroad, and over 250 journal papers. He won the International Medal by the International Council of Chemistry Associations in 2001, and the first Outstanding Contribution Medal for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization in 2010. To award the significant contributions Prof. Bai has made for China and for the world of science and technology, the University of York, UK, the University of Bristol, UK, the Lund University, Sweden, the Aarhus University, Denmark, the University of Queensland, Australia, the University of Minnesota, USA, and the Chinese University of Hong Kong all conferred an honorary doctorate degree upon him.

Outstanding scientists always have a keen eye, a profound eagerness in pursuing knowledge, an inquiring mind and a persevering heart; Prof. Bai Chun Li is a remarkable representative of such scientists; in the pyramid of nanotechnology research, he’s ascended the peak and cut the edge. His research experiences, his innovativeness, and his outstanding scientific achievements have set a good example for the teachers and students of MUST and even entire Macau.