(File photo of Chinese engineer Nan Rendong, chief scientist of the world's largest radio telescope project)

A senior Chinese engineer who dedicated 20-plus years to the world's largest radio telescope project passed away before the one year anniversary of his significant achievement. But his spirit is still inspiring people around him.

Nan Rendong, chief scientist of the 500-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope (FAST), died on September 15, 2017, at the age of 72. FAST was independently developed by China and will be conducive to investigating the universe.

Nan was diagnosed with lung cancer before FAST was put into operation in September 2016, and he continued his duties despite his illness.

As the founding father of FAST, Nan had been in charge of the project since 1994, and most of the project’s core members were Nan’s students. “He dedicated himself to the project over the 20-plus years,” a student of his said.

(Nan Rendong (L) in the construction site)

It’s hard to imagine how hard he had worked. To choose the perfect location, Nan traveled to examine almost all the low-lying lands in the country, measuring whether they were suitable for the project and how far they were from busy and noisy areas. In the end, a gigantic pit in southwest China’s Guizhou province was chosen as the ideal place.

To accelerate the approval of the project, Nan would always report the latest progress to supervising departments in person, and what’s more, he always arrived at the meeting place one hour ahead of time to guarantee a smooth report.

During the approval stage, Nan and his team usually worked late into the wee hours on the project introduction, considering it a key part of the report.

Working hard day after day, the grand telescope began to take shape in Nan’s mind. He knew almost every detail of the machine, such as which stage had moved forward and when it would be approved.

(Aerial photo of the FAST)

In 2007, FAST was finally approved. And Nan worked even harder than before. At the initial stage of the construction, Nan could always quickly find a solution to a problem. “He mastered all the key technologies, which could be seen in every discussion and the design of even small parts,” said one of his colleagues.

Nan’s attainments in engineering were outstanding too. For instance, after doing some calculations, he came to the conclusion that the tight wires could only handle two million stretches during its lifelong service, which is more reasonable than most of his colleagues’ predictions of six million times.

As the chief scientist, Nan and his team helped FAST get through many difficulties. On the foundation stone of FAST, Nan wrote a sentence: “FAST to South China is what the Bird’s Nest (National Stadium) is to the North,” to express the significance of FAST to the country.

“In 20 years time, FAST was proposed and built from scratch, and Nan’s hairs have gone from black to white,” a colleague of Nan recalled.