Israeli Nobel Prize laureate selected foreign academician of CAS BEIJING, Dec. 19 (Xinhua) -- Israeli biochemist Aaron Ciechanover, winner of the 2004 Nobel Prize for Chemistry, and eight other foreign scientists have been elected foreign academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) for 2013. Four of the new scientists elected were from the United States, and one each was elected from France, Denmark, Brazil and India. The number of foreign CAS academicians has now reached 72, the CAS said in an announcement on its website Thursday. Selection as a CAS academician is a lifetime honor and new academy members are selected biannually. In the announcement, the CAS also published a list of Chinese scientists newly elected as academicians. This year, 53 prominent scientists were elected as CAS academicians, bringing the total number to 750. The average age of the newly elected academicians is 54, and 85 percent of the newly elected are 60 years old or younger, according to the CAS. The new academicians were elected from 391 candidates. The eldest is 74-year-old Sun Xin from Fudan University, whose research focuses on condensed matter physics. The youngest new member is 45-year-old Xie Yi with China's University of Science and Technology. Her research is devoted to inorganic chemistry. Interview: Chinese scientists to play more important role: Nobel winner Higgs STOCKHOLM, Dec. 7 (Xinhua) -- Chinese scientists will play an increasingly important role in the world in future, 2013 Nobel Laureate in Physics Peter Higgs said here on Saturday. Higgs made the statement in an exclusive interview with Xinhua immediately after a joint press conference at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in central Stockholm, where this year's laureates in Physics, Chemistry and Economics made their first joint public appearance.