Chinese top leaders, including Premier Wen Jiabao, have paid their last respects to Huang Kun, a meritorious physical scientist, who died in Beijing on July 6 at the age of 86.

Huang, once head of the Semiconductor Research Institute under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, has been regarded as one of the founding fathers of China's solid physics and semiconductor physics.

In 2002, Huang won the five million-yuan (604,594 US dollars) State Preeminent Science and Technology Award, which is granted to no more than two outstanding scientists annually and is China's highest award to its scientists and engineers.

On April 21 this year, the "Huang Kun Award, " the premium of which came from Huang's 4.5 million yuan (544,135 US dollars) contribution, was approved by the government, making it Huang Kun's last contribution to Chinese science.

Source: Xinhua