TWAS gets first Chinese president

An international academic organization will get its first Chinese president next year, after an election in north China's port city of Tianjin.

Dr. Bai Chunli, currently vice president of TWAS and president of the Chinese Academy of Science, was elected the new president of TWAS on Tuesday at its 23rd general meeting.

TWAS, formerly the Third World Academy of Science until 2004 and currently the Academy of Science for the Developing World, was founded in 1983 in Trieste, Italy, to promote the scientific excellence for sustainable development in developing countries.

Bai is a leading scientist in China's nanotechnology study, especially in scanning tunneling microscopy, since the 1980s.

Bai's term starts on Jan. 1, 2013, replacing 72-year-old Brazilian Jacob Palis, the current president of TWAS.