China's top science academies – Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE) – announced the election of new membership this week. Among the 128 new members, four are from Ningbo in Zhejiang province.

Wang Jianyu (CAS member)

Born in Ningbo's Haishu, Wang is the system commander of Micius quantum science satellite and the project's executive deputy head. Micius is the world's first quantum communication satellite. Wang's proposed plan for the project aims to help China successfully establish an experimental system for quantum communication sciences.

Wang Jianyu delivers a speech at a meeting in Ningbo, Zhejiang province, in September 2015. [Photo/ nimte.ac.cn]

Ma Yugang (CAS member)

Ma, born in Yuyao, Ningbo, graduated from Yuyao High School 8 and is now a researcher at Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics. Ma has made significant contributions to the understanding of nuclei under extreme conditions and to the search for anti-matter particles.

Zheng Yuguo (CAE member)

Zheng is a native of Ningbo's Xiangshan county. He led the team that successfully invented an acarbose medication to treat diabetes, which broke the imported medicine monopoly and greatly lowered prices. It is estimated that since the medicine went onto the market in 2005, it has cut nearly 3 billion yuan ($454.8 million) from China's healthcare expenditure.

Zheng Yuguo (second from right) works at the laboratory with his students. [Photo/zjol.com.cn]

Feng Yufang (CAE member)

Born in Yuyao, Feng is a weapons development researcher who was worked on several military projects and innovative weapons systems.

Ningbo, a city known to produce many top scientists, has so far seen 115 current or former residents join CAS and CAE. That number represents nearly half of Zhejiang's total membership.