RADI Director-General GUO Huadong, a CAS Member and TWAS Fellow, has recently been awarded the N.M. Przewalski Gold Medal by the Russian Geographical Society (RGS) for his contribution to remote sensing methods, Digital Earth prototype system and development of Digital Earth in the context of global change.

At a ceremony held in Moscow on August 19, he was conferred on the prize by RGS President Sergey Shoygu at a special session of the 2015 International Geographical Union Regional Conference in honor of the 170th anniversary of RGS.

In addition to Prof. Guo, Prof. Markku Kulmala from Finland, Prof. John O'Loughlin from the US and Dr. Mihály Hoppál from Hungary were awarded respectively the F.P.Litke, P.P.Semyonov and N.N.Miklouho-Maclay Gold Medal. All the four Gold Medals are named after the four famous Russian scientists among whom Nikolai Mikhailovich Przewalski (1839-1888) is a world-famous explorer and naturalist.

The prize was created in 1946 by RGS to honor the scientists who have made outstanding achievements in geographic sciences. As world’s oldest learned society in the field, RGS was established in Saint Petersburg on August 6, 1845.