Three noted scientists from India, Germany and Russia are awarded by the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) for boosting international science cooperation between the Academy and the world this Wednesday in Beijing.

Indian professor C.N.R. Rao from Jawaharlal Nehru University, Herbert Jaeckle from Germany's Max Planck Society and Russian space physicist G.A. Zherebtsov shared the 2012 Award for International Scientific Cooperation, adding the honour list to 17 till 2007.

Launched by the CAS in 2007, the Award is established to honour foreign scientists for their contributions in Sino-foreign research cooperation. The awards are given every year by the CAS, which is China's top academic and research institution for natural sciences.

Dr C N R Rao is devoted to the research of solid-state and structural chemistry. He has been awarded for his important contributions in boosting scientific cooperation between China and India, as well as raising the scientific capabilities of developing countries.

German scientist Jaeckle is a world-famous scientist in the fields of molecular developmental biology. He has actively promoted scientific cooperation between China and Germany. He has explored and put into practice approaches that integrate a Max Planck management model with the CAS's scientific research system, as well as set up an international team of researchers. Zherebtsov actively promoted the construction of a Sino-Russian weather research centre and is currently working to get Russia involved in a CAS space science programme, the "Kuafu Project".

The three scientists are recommended by three CAS institutes: the Institute of Chemistry, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences and National Space Science Centre.