Physicist's team wins natl award for research on water
Physicist Wang Enge and his team have received the 2025 State Natural Science Award for their research into the quantum behavior of water molecules. Their work provides new insights into hydrogen bonds and subatomic dynamics, addressing long-standing questions in the scientific community.
Why it matters
Advancements in understanding fundamental molecular structures can lead to breakthroughs in materials science and chemistry.
For more than two decades, Chinese physicist Wang Enge has devoted his career to studying one of the most common substances on Earth: water.
While most people take water for granted, Wang looks at it through an ultrapowerful atomic lens to understand the fundamental structure and behavior of water and ice.
"Over the years, many colleagues have asked me: what is there left to study about water? We drink it, swim in it, and skate on it every day," Wang, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and professor at Peking University's School of Physics, said in a recent interview. "Everything about it seems obvious."
Yet Wang remained focused on one main goal: uncovering the hidden physics of this everyday liquid.
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