Introduction
A poem he once wrote to himself: "The beautiful universe, with its mystery and splendor, calls us to step over mediocrity and enter its boundless vastness
Nan Rendong dedicated the most precious 20 years of his life to Tianyan, from site selection, project establishment, and feasibility studies of FAST to guiding the research and model testing of various key technologies, so his inventions are even more valuable. It is of cross-epochal significance and he was named a people's scientist. What legendary stories did he encounter when building the Sky Eye?
Introduction
Born in 1945. Mr. Nan Rendong in February is from Liaoyuan, Jilin. He is a famous astronomer in my country and a researcher at the National Astronomical Observatory. He was selected as a candidate for academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2017. On September 17, 2019, Nan Rendong was awarded the National "People's Scientist". The honorary title is also a great recognition of Nan Lao's efforts.
Mr. Nan Rendong is also the initiator, chief scientist and chief engineer of my country's Sky Eye (FAST), the world's largest radio telescope.
As of September 2017, Nan Rendong has published 222 scientific papers, 7 monographs, 6 technical reports, 36 patents, 56 papers were included in SCI, 65 were included in EI, SC and BI, and has been cited nearly 900 times. In addition, he has participated in many major scientific research projects. 1. The top scorer in the college entrance examination. In 1945, Nan Rendong was born in Long, Liaoyuan City, Jilin Province. In a small town in the mountains, Nan Rendong studied in Liaoyuan Zhongxing Primary School, Liaoyuan No. 4 Middle School, and Liaoyuan No. 5 Middle School with excellent academic performance, and was repeatedly commended by the school.
In 1963, Nan Rendong scored an average of 98.6 points in the college entrance examination (100-point system). ) won the title of "Jilin Province Science Champion" and became a student majoring in radio at Tsinghua University
⑵ Opportunities arose
In 1993, he studied at the International Radio Science Union in Japan. At the conference, scientists proposed building a new generation of radio telescopes to receive more information from outer space and make plans for the development of radio astronomy in 10 or 20 years.
Nan Rendong turned around and followed. Colleagues said: “Let’s build one too. "At that time, the diameter of China's largest radio telescope was less than 30 meters, so China had to use foreign radio telescopes for research, which was calculated in one hour. The cost was very high and the time was very short. This is also the 500-meter Aperture Spherical Radio Telescope (FAST) ) The opportunity to start the project.
⑶ Preparing to return to China
Some people say that FAST made Nan Rendong famous. But in fact, Nan Rendong was already famous before FAST. Astronomer. When he was young, Nan Rendong was invited to visit famous observatories in the Netherlands, the Soviet Union and other countries.
At that time, Nan Rendong served as a visiting professor at the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan and had world-class scientific research conditions and treatment. . In 1994, one day’s salary was equivalent to a year in China, but he said: “I have to go back to China. ”
Because foreign advanced scientific research equipment and generous living conditions have never moved Nan Rendong’s heart at all. After witnessing the advanced technologies of other countries, his belief became more determined to create the Chinese’s own. Super telescope.
Many years of outstanding achievements have been praised and recognized by international peers. In 2006, he was elected president of the Radio Astronomy Division of the International Astronomical Union.
In 1994, Nanren. Dong began to preside over China's promotion of the international large radio telescope project. The construction of the spherical radio telescope was full of difficulties. There was no precedent for key technologies, key materials were in urgent need of research, and core technologies were blocked.
Since then, At nearly 50 years old, he can no longer stop because no step of site selection, demonstration, project establishment, and construction is easy.
⑴ There is no precedent to follow.
It is used internationally. For a radio telescope built with a steel structure, the aperture exceeds 100 meters, which is the limit of engineering. If you want to build a telescope with a larger aperture, you must choose a large and round pit and rely on the terrain to achieve it. The deep mountains have unique geographical conditions for building the "China Sky Eye".
With more than 300 satellite remote sensing images, he couldn't wait to board the green train from Beijing to Guizhou, which was about to start. He traveled back and forth for nearly 50 hours, which lasted for 12 years.
In more than ten years, he searched for hundreds of nests in the mountains of Guizhou and traveled through the rocky mountains. In Karst Stone Mountain, he has received help from many cadres and farmers for more than ten years. He often wears a pair of shorts like a farmer and hangs a hatchet on his hip, because there are roads in some places and can only be deepened or shallowed through the stone gaps. Move over.
Nie Yuanping once had a profound experience, that is, when he first met Nan Rendong, who had just returned to China, he was always wearing this fashionable suit and tie.
< p>Nan Rendong turned into a migrant worker, giving the impression that he did not look like the chief designer of Tianyan at all.⑵ Fall
In 1995, he resolutely fell. Insisting on going to the nest to investigate, suddenly heavy rain fell from the sky.
He had seen with his own eyes the mudslides in Wodangli. The flash floods were covered with sand and gravel, and even people and trees could be washed away. However, he accidentally fell down on the way up and rolled down. But he didn't care at all. He thinks this is a common thing in site selection. Nan Rendong stuffed Jiuxin Pills into his mouth and crawled back to the pass.
After more than ten years, Dawodang, which has the most suitable conditions among 391 candidate depressions, was finally selected based on factors such as scale, electromagnetic wave environment, ecological environment, and engineering geological environment.
In November 1995, with the Beijing Observatory as the main body and more than 20 domestic universities and scientific research institutions, *** jointly established the China Promotion Committee for the Construction of "Large Radio Telescopes", with Mr. Nan Rendong as the The main leader.
As the director of the China Promotion Committee of the "Large Radio Telescope", he is not only responsible for project establishment and organization of research and implementation work, but also proposes scientific strategies and determines priority observation plans. He is determined to have the "Sky Eye" completed and put into use as soon as possible.
After the project started, thousands of workers entered the site at the same time, and Nan Rendong and the workers worked together. His students said that he was looking for Nan Rendong in the mountains, and he couldn't tell which one was Nan Rendong among the farmers. Nan Rendong was at the construction site. Among the workers, it was difficult to tell who Nan Rendong was.
⑴Nan Rendong is extremely serious and rigorous in treating scientific research
Nan Rendong is extremely serious and rigorous in treating scientific research. Nan Rendong always said this: "Work hard and never let down the country and the people." There is no link in "Eye of the Sky" that can "fool" him, and no flaws can pass the test for him.
At the beginning of the project, a water cellar was to be built. The construction party sent the design drawings, and he quickly marked out several errors and sent them back. The construction team was extremely surprised: How could this astronomy scientist also know about civil engineering?
So many workers remember that even in the hot summer, Nan Rendong would always leave his job and run to the construction site in order to personally measure the errors of engineering projects. How many times in the brightly lit late nights have we carefully reviewed and calculated repeatedly, immersed ourselves in research, and patiently communicated
⑵ Innovation
The inherent nature of celestial radio waves is a key factor in radio astronomical observations. Tough conundrum. The radio waves of celestial bodies are parallel. When the reflecting surface is spherical, the radio waves will converge into a line. Only when the reflecting surface is parabolic, it can converge into a point and enter the receiver. In order to overcome this problem, Nan Rendong led the engineers to come up with a wonderful design, which is the actively deforming reflective surface, which can deform the spherical reflective surface into a paraboloid in real time.
This design is unique in the world. By controlling a complex cable network structure composed of nearly 10,000 steel cables, the FAST system can flexibly control a reflective surface composed of 4,450 independent panels to aim at celestial targets, and then drag the 30-tonne reflective surface with 6 steel cables. The feed cabin reaches the focus position and receives the radio waves emitted by the celestial body in real time.
When he saw FAST for the first time, Richard Skelley, former Director General of SKA International Organization, said that the first word he could think of was "shocked": "This is a shocking thing. Shocking design concept. "
Nan Rendong relied on his persistence and diligence to lead a group of people with the same scientific dream to turn the incredible idea into reality step by step.
FAST involves many professional fields, and experts in each field offer different opinions. As chief scientist and chief engineer, Nan Rendong must make decisions. To make the right decision, you must know the business.
⑴Broad fields
In 2007, FAST was finally formally established, and Nan Rendong worked even harder. The FAST project is far more difficult than imagined, and there are no precedents for key technologies. Moreover, engineering involves various fields such as astronomy, mechanics, mechanical engineering, electronics, surveying, and even geotechnical engineering. There is a huge distance from paper design to construction and operation.
Nan Rendong once mentioned to his old colleague Si Keke many times during his lifetime that he could not explain to the country if the FAST project was not done well, so he did not dare to be negligent in the slightest. Therefore, Nan Rendong acted like a construction worker, running non-stop to check every detail of the project. With a serious expression and a hoarse voice, he kept making suggestions and finding faults with the construction unit.
During the site survey, in order to have a clearer understanding of the site, master first-hand information, and formulate a correct dangerous rock management plan, 65-year-old Nan Rendong and young people worked together in the roadless mountains. Climb inside. When going to the top of the steep mountain, everyone advised him to wait at the bottom of the mountain and report the results to him, but he insisted: "I want to go up with you to see the actual situation."
⑵ Requires engineering Budget
In addition to the difficulty in site selection, funding issues are an important reason that hinders the progress of the project.
For a few years, Nan Rendong became a "salesman". He began to lobby everywhere in order to gain more people's support, whether at home or abroad, at conferences or small meetings. Nan Rendong talks about large-scale radio projects to everyone he meets. He is full of passion and takes the trouble to explain every innovative concept of FAST to different people.
He spent his own money to travel from the northeast to the southeast and then to the northwest, and contacted more than 20 universities and research institutes across the country to participate.
Some people say that FAST represents the Long March of Chinese science and technology, and it is also the Long March of Nan Rendong’s life.
⑶The cable net experiment failed and could not work normally
In 2010, FAST experienced a near-catastrophic risk - the cable net fatigue problem. After the fatigue test of the steel ropes purchased at that time, they were unable to bear the weight and would deform. None of them could meet the requirements of FAST.
The structural form of the FAST reflective surface has therefore been delayed. Nan Rendong has trouble sleeping and eating, and communicates with technical staff every day. After nearly a hundred failures, he finally led the team to develop a steel cable structure that met the requirements.
⑶Reflective board
The reflective board becomes a structure with holes to facilitate the flow of rainwater and sunlight. The weight has been increased from 2,300 tons to 1,300 tons. The Sky Eye is integrated with nature. As one body.
Nan Rendong’s scientific target analysis creates breakthrough opportunities. The unique shape design of the Sky Eye verifies the Chinese saying, after the Grain Rain, the Chinese Eye looks up to the sky and the stars change.
For more than 8,000 days and nights, FAST was like Nan Rendong pulling up a grown-up child with his own hands. As chief scientist, Nan Rendong led and participated in every engineering problem of the FAST project, leading FAST through crisis after crisis.
On September 25, 2016, the world’s largest single-diameter and most sensitive radio telescope with China’s independent intellectual property rights was inaugurated in a karst depression in Pingtang County, Guizhou Province. Its birth represents China’s The overseas field has taken another big step forward.
⑴Hard conditions
In the 22 years from pre-research to completion, three generations of Chinese scientific and technological workers, old, middle and young, have overcome unimaginable difficulties. Nan Rendong and his colleagues They did not flinch. They drank natural mixed water and ate the cold dry food they brought with them. In winter, when the cold was unbearable, they gathered some firewood and huddled together to keep warm.
Before the "China Sky Eye" was completed and opened in 2016, he lived with everyone in a color steel house. He lived an extremely frugal life. Four people lived in each room. Bathrooms and toilets were shared. Sitting is a big pot of rice. He feels like a firmly rooted worker. He often says that he is a tactical old worker.
⑵ Got lung cancer
FAST is a challenging, impactful, and transcendent project, and Nan Rendong is under tremendous pressure. The long-term exhaustion of the burden made him sick from overwork. In September 2016, Nan Rendong suffered from lung cancer. During the operation, he injured his vocal cords. However, he always insisted on participating in the construction of the Sky Eye because he felt that time was fleeting.
Nan Rendong has never wanted others to take care of him. After he fell ill, he still continued to work despite his illness. Although he was not physically fit for the long journey, he still insisted on flying from Beijing to Guizhou, witnessing with his own eyes the 22 years he spent The big scientific project that was painstakingly completed. When Nan Rendong passed away, he left his last wish to keep the funeral simple and not hold a memorial ceremony.
⑶Indifferent to fame and fortune
Over the years, the FAST project has become a world-renowned super project. Its innovative technology has been recognized by all parties and won various awards, but it belongs to Nan Rendong. However, there are only a few personal honors such as "CCTV 2016 Scientific and Technological Innovation Figure of the Year", "2016 Chinese Science News Figure of the Year", and "2017 National Innovation Medal".
He is indifferent to fame and fortune, but is very concerned about the workers on site and the children in poor areas. He once bought sportswear for workers from Yunnan, and often brought some fruits with them. After every dinner, he would sit in the workers' sheds. He had an excellent memory and knew almost every worker's name, type of work, income, and some trivial matters about their families.
He saw the hardship of local people’s lives and understood how difficult it was for local children to go to school, so he donated funds to send more than ten children to school. To this day, sponsored students still write to him.
Currently, the FAST project is still under intense debugging. So far, the "China Sky Eye" has discovered 102 pulsars, and its number has exceeded the number and number of many countries. 92 of them are new pulsars.
The leaves have something to say
On September 15, 2017, Mr. Nan Rendong, my country's famous astronomer and "Father of Sky Eye", passed away due to illness at the age of 72. In the past 23 years, Nan Rendong has gone from his prime to his twilight years, turning a simple idea into an important weapon of the country. Nan Rendong's scientific goal analysis creates breakthrough opportunities. The unique shape design of the Sky Eye verifies the Chinese saying, after the Grain Rain, the Chinese Eye looks up to the sky and the stars change.
China has achieved a unique project in the world - the 500-meter aperture spherical radio telescope FAST. People are accustomed to calling it the "China Sky Eye".
The "Sky Eye" can receive electromagnetic signals 13.7 billion light-years away, and the observation range can reach the edge of the universe. With this "eye in the sky", scientists can spy on information about interstellar interactions, observe dark matter, determine the mass of black holes, and even search for possible extraterrestrial civilizations. As the world's largest single-aperture telescope, FAST is expected to maintain its status as a world-class equipment in the next 10 to 20 years.