Lu Ke, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) was invited to act as editor for US academic weekly journal Science, becoming the first Chinese scientist taking the post, the Beijing Youth Daily reported Thursday.

"Donald Kennedy, the chief editor of Science sent a letter to CAS inviting academician Lu Ke to act as the editor of Science, responsible for reviewing theses on materials science contributed to the magazines," the paper quoted the CAS as saying, adding Lu was also invited to join in the editors committee.

The editors in charge of reviewing theses will choose the qualified one to be published on Science and also wrote comments on scientific progress in related fields, the paper said.

Lu is an expert in nanoscience and director of CAS Institute of Metals. Lu, born in 1965, was elected CAS academician in Nov. 2003, China's youngest academician at that time, the paper said.

Science, founded in 1880 by Thomas Edison, sees about 9,000 contributions every year, among which eight percent can be published. 52 percent of published theses are written by non-American authors.

(Xinhua News Agency February 17, 2006)