German media: Why has China been excluded from the Nobel Science Prizes for so long
Austrian newspaper "Standard" commented that so far, only one Chinese scientist has won a Nobel Prize, but in the field of scientific research, China is currently replacing the United States as the dominant power.
"Standard" commented that ten years ago, Chinese scientist Tu Youyou won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. This 94-year-old pharmacologist is also the only Chinese scientist to have received a science-related Nobel Prize to date. Does this mean that China is still lagging behind in innovative research? Is it still only "copying and improving" Western scientific achievements? The article titled "The Unstoppable Rise of Chinese Science" wrote:
"According to the latest 'G20 Countries' Research and Innovation Report' published by the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI) in Philadelphia, in 2024, mainland China published nearly 900,000 scientific papers, ranking first among G20 countries. The United States ranked second with about 500,000. This is the first time since 1945 that the United States, which had long dominated the field of scientific research, has been surpassed. In comparison, in 2015, the year when Tu Youyou won the Nobel Prize, China's number of papers was only 300,000, while the United States had the same number of 500,000 as now.
"The Nobel Prize more often reflects past research conditions rather than the current ones."
Although the quantity has exceeded that of the United States, what about the quality? The so-called Nature Index is an important standard for measuring high-quality papers. This index only counts the 150 most influential natural science and medical journals worldwide. And China's index has also exceeded that of the United States.
A ranking that includes about 20,000 research institutions shows that the Chinese Academy of Sciences leads Harvard University and ranks first. The Max Planck Society, the most renowned research institution in Europe, only ranks tenth. Other institutions in the top 12 are all from China. In comparison, the best research institution in Austria, the University of Vienna, only ranks 42nd.
From this, it is easy to explain why China is currently not winning the Nobel Prize: breakthroughs in research often take decades before they can win the Nobel Prize. The Nobel Prize more often reflects past research conditions rather than the current ones. As for today's scientific standards, China is gradually replacing the United States' position.
The reduction and suppression policies implemented by the Trump administration have put American research in a passive situation, which may indirectly accelerate China's catch-up speed in scientific research. Currently, the United States still maintains a leading advantage in the field of artificial intelligence, which is closely related to its efforts to maintain a leading position in the hardware field.
However, at the beginning of this year, when a Chinese company launched a language model called DeepSeek, it showed that China has the ability to break through technical limitations with innovative methods, thus putting pressure on the United States in the field of artificial intelligence."
The authors of the "Standard" commentary, Reinhard Kleindl and Klaus Taschwer, pointed out that while China is rapidly catching up with the United States and competing for the global leadership in the field of scientific research, Europe is still caught in a contradictory mentality of "cooperation and prevention." However, more and more European scientists have realized that China is not only a competitor, but also becoming a center worth learning from for innovation:
"Starting this week, the Nobel Prizes in Medicine, Physics, and Chemistry will be announced successively. The possibility of China winning the award remains very slim. But it can already be said that in the next few years or decades, Tu Youyou will certainly not remain the only Chinese scientist to have won a Nobel Science Prize."
Original: www.toutiao.com/article/1845422086718601/
Statement: The article represents the views of the author himself.