AWARDEE OF EARTH SCIENCES PRIZE

ZHAO WENJIN

Zhao Wenjin, a geophysicist, was born in Feb.1931 in Tianjin and graduated from the Physical Department of Qinhua University in 1952; engaged mainly in geophysical prospecting and deep-crust investigation for more than 50 years. In his early years, he initiated and realized mineral prospecting with geological, geophysical and geochemical methods and techniques, in the southern Anhui, western Sichuan and others. He has made a substantial contribution to discovery of copper deposits in southern Anhui and to discovery and expansion of a large-scale V-Ti-Fe Deposit in Sichang area, for all these the highest prize of the former Ministry of Geology and Mineral Resources “Geophysical Brigade performing exploits for ore-prospecting during 30 years” was awarded in 1980.
During his work in the Geophysical Institute of the former Ministry of Geology, as the person in charge of technical affairs in the Institute, he presided over development and application of more than 20 varieties of new geophysical and geochemical techniques for solid mineral prospect-ing; he is the earliest to propose and to push forward the application of computer techniques in geophysical prospecting for solid minerals, to propose “pattern and non-pattern prospecting” idea: he is one of the founders of geophysical prospecting for solid minerals in new China. For all these the Chinese Geophysical Society awarded the first Gu  Gongxu geophysical prospecting science and technology prize to him in 1998.
As the head of the Coordination Group of Chinese Lithosphere Geoscientific Transacts, he presided over formulation of 11 geosscientific transacts across China; he presided over the scientific engineering project-Himalayas and Tibetan Plateau Deep Exploration for a long period of time, and 10 significant discoveries have been made with a number of new methods and techniques, and therefore a complete new picture with respect to the deep structure and architecture of Tibetan Plateau crust and upper mantle has been suggested, it is an important contribution to the development of continental geodynamics. He won a National Natural Science Prize of second class in 2000.