(CNSPHOTO)

Wu Jianping has been awarded the prestigious Jonathan B. Postel Service Award 2010 by the Internet Society (ISOC) for his pioneering role in advancing Internet technology, deployment and education in China and Asia Pacific over the last 20 years.

Wu, 57, is a professor at Beijing-based Tsinghua University. He is the first Chinese scientist to receive the highest honor in the Internet world.

Wu began his studies of Internet technology in the late 1970s. His best-known contribution is the development of the CERNET, China's first Internet backbone network. Created to establish an advanced nationwide network infrastructure to support education and research among universities, CERNET has since become the world's largest national academic network. Since 1998, Wu has been devoted to the design and development of a large-scale native IPv6 backbone in China, which serves to connect over 200 universities and millions of users.

The ISOC is the organizational home of the Internet Engineering Task Force, the Internet's premier technical standards body. The Postel Award was established to honor individuals or organizations making outstanding contributions in service to the data communications community.