Professor Zhang Kai, a leading cryo-EM scientist, worked for years in Cambridge and Yale. The article discusses his reasons for moving back to China, a topic that many scientists keep private.

Not all scientists are willing to share why they returned to China. Most remain tight-lipped about their reasons for returning home and their specific experiences because of political or other non-scientific reasons. Professor Zhang Kai is an exception. Zhang, who worked for many years in Cambridge, England, and Yale University in the United States, is one of the world’s top and most influential cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) scientists while harbouring further ambitious goals. “The first...