Xplorer Prize announces 50 winners, including first post-1995 laureate

The 2026 Xplorer Prize has announced 50 winners, marking a significant milestone for the private scientific funding initiative. For the first time in the award's eight-year history, a laureate born after 1995, Tiankuang Zhou from the Beijing Institute of Technology, has been recognized for his research in intelligent optoelectronic computing.

This year's cohort also features a record ten female scientists, representing 20% of the winners. Three of these women were selected under the “Rising Star” category, which is designated for female scientists aged 38 or younger. The winners represent 30 different universities, hospitals, and research organizations across 13 cities.

Founded in 2018 by a group of prominent scientists including Nobel laureate Chen-Ning Yang and Tencent founder Pony Ma, the prize is funded by the Tencent Foundation. Each recipient receives 3 million yuan (approximately $446,345 USD) distributed over five years to support their research. To align more closely with global standards, the selection process increased international expert participation in the peer-review stage to over 40%.