Hunan's Best — Inventions and Major Achievements (Part 3)
Expert Scholars, Glorious Achievements: Li Xibing, the world's first expert to solve the oscillation problem affecting rock dynamic test precision. Born in 1962 in Hunan, Li is a professor at Central South University's School of Resources, Environment and Civil Engineering. He has made notable achievements in energy consumption and conservation in ore-rock crushing and in rock impact dynamics.
This article has been compiled from historical materials in the "Zhangjiajie Tour Guide Network" (33519.com · City Overview section). Some administrative divisions, population, socioeconomic data, and policy information may be outdated and are for reference only; for the latest situation, please refer to official releases by the local government and scenic areas.
Section Four
Experts and Scholars, Outstanding Achievements and Honors
The World's First Expert to Solve the Oscillation Problem Affecting the Accuracy of Rock Dynamic Tests — Li Xibing
Li Xibing was born in 1962 in Hunan. He is a professor at the School of Resources, Environment and Civil Engineering of Central South University. He has made remarkable achievements in research on the energy consumption laws and energy saving of ore-rock fragmentation and in the field of rock impact dynamics. Through research on the energy dissipation laws of different types of ore-rock media under different loading conditions, he established a loading system aimed at minimizing useless dissipation and maximizing energy utilization, proposed the criterion of rock mass dynamic sliding and the theory of mutual coupling between stress waves and electromagnetic waves coexisting in piezoelectric rock masses. He developed a rock energy consumption and dynamic testing experimental machine capable of loading with different loading waves, changed the traditional rectangular wave loading, and creatively proposed quasi-bell-shaped wave loading, thereby fundamentally eliminating the P-C oscillation that had long remained unsolved at home and abroad and seriously affected the accuracy of rock dynamic experiments. This achievement won the second prize of the Science and Technology Progress Award of the State Education Commission (ranked first). His published monograph "Rock Impact Dynamics" was highly praised and won the 9th China Book Award. He has published nearly 50 works in domestic and international academic journals, and more than 10 papers have been successively abstracted by authoritative foreign journals.
Founder of China's First Radiobiology Teaching and Research Section — Liu Shuzheng
Liu Shuzheng was born in 1925 in Changsha, Hunan. He is a professor at Jilin University, a doctoral supervisor, chairman of the Academic Committee of the Key Laboratory of Radiobiology of the Ministry of Health, and a famous radiobiologist. Engaged in medical education and research for 55 years, he created China's first radiobiology teaching and research section in a university (1960), the country's first doctoral degree authorization point in radiation medicine (1983), and the Key Laboratory of Radiobiology of the Ministry of Health (1990). His research direction is the laws and mechanisms by which ionizing radiation affects the body's defense and adaptive functions. He obtained systematic scientific data and enriched and developed the theory of low-dose radiation hormesis. He has published more than 360 papers and 14 monographs, which have been widely cited by domestic and international academia. He has been invited more than fifty times to give lectures at home and abroad or to make invited reports at international academic conferences. He has won 17 science and technology achievement awards, including 2 at the national level and 10 at the ministerial and commission level.
China's First Expert in the Research and Development of "Continuous Strip-shaped Nickel Foam" Material — Zhong Faping
Zhong Faping was born in 1965. He is the managing director and researcher of Changsha Liyuan New Material Co., Ltd. and a deputy to the 10th National People's Congress. In 1997, he independently and successfully developed continuous strip-shaped nickel foam (a key material for nickel-metal hydride batteries), filling a gap in China's new energy materials field and breaking the Western countries' technological blockade and market monopoly against China in this field. The Changsha Liyuan New Material Co., Ltd. that he led in founding, after only five years of development, formed a production scale with an annual output value of more than 300 million yuan, becoming one of the world's largest production bases for continuous strip-shaped nickel foam with a 26% market share. The export rate of its leading products reached 50%, with an annual foreign exchange earning capacity of more than 20 million US dollars. He incubated and led the creation of three high-tech enterprises with independent intellectual property rights, forming the prototype of an industrial chain centered on advanced battery materials, high-energy batteries, and power tools.
The World's First Person to Discover Male-sterile Wild Rice of the "Wild Barnyard Grass" Type — Li Bihu
Li Bihu was born in 1946 in Yuanling, Hunan. In 1970, on Hainan Island, he discovered common wild rice with male flower abortion, making important contributions to breeding rice male sterile lines and realizing the three-line matching of hybrid rice — sterile line, maintainer line, and restorer line. In 1973, together with Yuan Longping and others, he bred the world's first hybrid rice with strong heterosis. In 1981 he won the special prize of the National Invention Award. In 1989 he was awarded the title of National Advanced Worker. He wrote papers such as "How We Studied Hybrid Rice" and "Cultivation Techniques for Hybrid Rice Combinations."
Developer of China's First Domestically Produced Bipolar Small-Scale Integrated Circuit Aerospace Guidance Computer — Shen Xubang
Shen Xubang was born in 1933 in Linli, Hunan Province. He graduated from Peking University in 1957 and was assigned to work at the Institute of Computing Technology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. In 1997 he was elected an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. In March 2001 he was appointed professor and doctoral supervisor at Northwestern Polytechnical University. Academician Shen Xubang is a famous computer expert in China. He developed China's first domestically produced bipolar small-scale integrated circuit aerospace guidance computer, and led and guided the development of many types of computers and computer chips in China. Academician Shen Xubang has profound academic attainments. He has published 5 monographs and trained nearly 20 doctoral students. He is an expert with outstanding contributions in China and has won 3 National Science and Technology Progress Awards. He was a representative to the 10th and 11th Party Congresses.
China's First Scientist to Serve as President of a UNESCO International Organization — Su Jilan
Su Jilan was born in 1935 in Youxian, Hunan. She graduated from National Taiwan University in 1957. With her outstanding activities and research achievements in the international oceanographic community, she was successively elected a foreign academician of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences and an academician of the Third World Academy of Sciences, and served as vice-chairman and chairman of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO, becoming China's first scientist to serve as president of this international organization. In 1979, Su Jilan returned to the motherland and came to work at the Second Institute of Oceanography in Hangzhou, researching estuarine dynamics and shelf dynamic oceanography. Su Jilan has long been devoted to research on circulation dynamics in physical oceanography, completing one high-level project after another, publishing more than 100 papers on estuarine and shelf dynamics, and winning provincial and ministerial-level science and technology progress awards many times. Many of her unique insights have received attention at international conferences and high praise from domestic peers.
Chief Scientist of China's First "Space Hard X-ray Modulation Telescope" — Li Tibei
Li Tibei is a high-energy astrophysicist and chief scientist of China's first astronomical satellite project, the "Space Hard X-ray Modulation Telescope." He was born in Beibei, Chongqing, with ancestral home in Youxian. He graduated from the Department of Engineering Physics of Tsinghua University in 1963. He is a researcher at the Institute of High Energy Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, chairman of the Academic Committee of the Open Laboratory of Cosmic Rays and High Energy Astrophysics, a professor at Tsinghua University, and director of the Tsinghua Center for Astrophysics. He is mainly engaged in research on cosmic ray physics and high-energy astrophysics, and has achieved important results in experimental research and data analysis of cosmic rays and high-energy astrophysics. He advocated and organized the pioneering experimental research on high-energy astrophysics in China, proposed a statistical model of galactic gamma-ray sources that gained international consensus. He established a calculation formula for finding ultra-high-energy celestial bodies, which has become a standard method for data analysis in cosmic ray and high-energy astrophysics. He established the direct demodulation method for object reconstruction and the time-domain spectral method for studying rapidly changing phenomena, which have been increasingly widely applied. In 1997 he was elected an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
Pioneer of Computer Science and Software Engineering Research in China — Tang Zhisong
Tang Zhisong was from Changsha. He was a researcher at the Institute of Software of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. He graduated from the Department of Philosophy of Tsinghua University in 1950 and completed graduate studies in the same department in 1952. In the mid-1960s he engaged in research on automata theory, proving many structural properties of computer transfer commands, such as that transfer commands can be replaced by loops, one year earlier than the Bohm-Jacopi theorem. In the mid-1970s he engaged in research on structured programming and structured languages, promoting the development of this work in China. In the early 1980s he began research on the temporal logic language XYZ/E and the software engineering tool and environment system XYZ based on it, organically combining temporal logic theory with software engineering technology to improve the level of software development automation and thereby increase productivity. Among these, the temporal logic language XYZ/E is the world's first executable temporal logic language. In 1991 he was elected an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
Creator of China's Macroscopic Damage Mechanics Model for Fractured Rock Masses — Xie Heping
Xie Heping, from Shuangfeng County, is currently an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and president of Sichuan University. He has long been devoted to research and practice in rock mass mechanics and engineering. In the early 1980s, he was the first in China to establish a macroscopic damage mechanics model for fractured rock masses, studying their natural properties and the mechanisms and processes leading to disastrous accidents, opening up a new field of research on damage mechanics of fractured rock masses, successfully predicting the large deformation and creep stability process of mining-induced surrounding rock damage, and applying it to important engineering fields such as deep roadway large deformation prediction, creep analysis, and related roadway support design. Since 1985, he creatively introduced fractal methods to study the discontinuous deformation, strength, and fracture failure of fractured rock masses, forming a new direction of fractal research on the discontinuous behavior of fractured rock masses. Combined with damage mechanics, it has been successfully applied in important mining engineering such as rockbursts, surface subsidence, and top coal fragmentation control, achieving significant economic and social benefits.
China's First "International Outstanding Rice Farmer" — Qu Yongshou
Qu Yongshou was born in 1929 in Liling City. He was a deputy to the 7th, 8th, and 9th National People's Congresses. Through long and arduous exploration, he mastered the law of rice leaf color changes from black to yellow to black, and adopted comprehensive cultivation measures such as cultivating strong seedlings, rational close planting, artificial control of irrigation, and alternating wet and dry fertilizer and water management. In 1984, the rice yield in his experimental field reached 1,312.2 kilograms per mu. In June 1985 he was invited to the Philippines to attend the 25th anniversary celebration of the International Rice Research Institute,
where the International Rice Research Institute awarded him the title of "International Outstanding Rice Farmer." His paper on reducing the empty grain rate of rice was praised at the conference. He is the first Chinese farmer to receive this international honor.
The Founding Hero of the "Two-Line Method" of Hybrid Rice — Luo Xiaohe
Luo Xiaohe graduated from Hunan Agricultural College in 1962 and began studying hybrid rice under Yuan Longping in 1970. In 1964, Yuan Longping proposed the idea of breeding hybrid rice through the three-line method. To verify that self-pollinating rice has heterosis, Luo Xiaohe, through extensive experiments, crossed the domestic "Nanguangzhan" genic male sterile material with "Ribenzhan," producing a triple-super hybrid rice whose plant height, leaf length, and tillering ability all exceeded those of the male parent, female parent, and "Xiangzaoxian No. 1," providing scientific evidence for Yuan Longping's idea. Thereafter, he boldly used gibberellin to stimulate the growth of rice panicle cells, breaking the bottleneck in three-line hybrid rice seed production, raising the seed production yield of three-line hybrid rice from less than 10 kilograms per mu to nearly 100 kilograms per mu, and promoting three-line hybrid rice to fully enter the market. Yuan Longping called him "a hero of the hybrid rice cause, a main general of the three-line method, and a founding hero of the two-line method."
Founder of New China's First Medical University — Li Tingzhi
Li Tingzhi (1906-1978) was president of Hunan Medical College, president of China Medical University, and a medical educator. He was from Xiangxiang County (now Shuangfeng County), Hunan Province. In the early days of the founding of the People's Republic, he undertook the creation of Changchun Medical University. Under extremely difficult conditions, he led teachers and students to open land and build houses, establishing the first medical university for New China. After the founding of New China, he successively served as president and party committee secretary of Changchun Medical University, the Third Military Medical University, and Harbin Medical University. In May 1966 he became president and deputy party committee secretary of Hunan Medical College. In May 1978 he became president and deputy party committee secretary of China Medical University. During his tenure as president of Hunan Medical College, he organized the founding of two nationally distributed academic journals, "Foreign Medicine — Neurology and Neurosurgery Section" and "Chinese and Foreign Medicine — Psychiatry Section," and presided over the revision of the "Rural Doctor's Manual." In 1974, he led the research work on the Western Han female corpse unearthed at Mawangdui in Changsha. In 1975, he presided over the creation of the Department of Health of Hunan Medical College.
Founder of Psychiatry in Hunan — Ling Minyou
Ling Minyou (1902-1991) was from Pingjiang County. In 1923 he was admitted to the famous Xiangya Medical College. In 1936, Ling Minyou returned to Xiangya Medical College to carry out teaching in neurology and psychiatry. In 1944, Ling Minyou was promoted to professor of neuropsychiatry at Xiangya Medical College. In the same year he went to the United States to investigate medical education and studied psychiatry at four famous American universities. From the early 1950s he began recruiting and training graduate students, and hosted national training classes for neuropsychiatry teachers and professional physicians. In the spring of 1951, the Department of Neuropsychiatry was formally established, with neuropsychiatry beds opened. In 1956, a research laboratory of higher nervous activity in humans, including conditioned reflex EEG recording equipment, was established, and the strength of the Department of Neuropsychiatry continued to grow. After reform and opening up, especially after the establishment of the Institute of Mental Health in 1987 and the establishment of the Department of Psychiatry, the development of psychiatry in Hunan reached another platform, exerting a greater and more far-reaching influence on the development of psychiatry nationwide.
China's First Person to Research Wide-Area Differential Technology — Liu Jingnan
Liu Jingnan was born in July 1943 in Changsha. He is currently a professor and doctoral supervisor at Wuhan University and an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering. Academician Liu Jingnan has long been engaged in research and teaching on geodetic theory and applications, with outstanding achievements in geodetic coordinate system theory, software development, and major engineering applications, especially in GPS technology applications and engineering. In terms of theory, he solved the two-dimensional coordinate system problem and realized the conversion between three-dimensional GPS coordinates and two-dimensional coordinate systems. In particular, he proposed the "distributed wide-area differential" technology suited to China's national conditions, solving many technical problems in domestic GPS applications. This technical approach has been implemented in many industries in China. The establishment of the Hubei Wide-Area Differential Demonstration Station is one exemplary case.
Hunan's First Female Engineering Academician — Fan Yunliu
Fan Yunliu was born in Changsha in 1930. She is currently a researcher at the Biotechnology Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences and is one of the founders and pioneers of genetic engineering research in China. In the early 1980s, she established the first molecular biology research institution in the agricultural field, and was the first to apply molecular biology techniques to crop genetic improvement; she was the first in China to obtain insect-resistant transgenic rice and cotton, and created new rice germplasm resources highly resistant to the striped stem borer, the yellow stem borer, and the leaf roller; she was the first in China to pay attention to the problem of failure of transgenic insect-resistant genes in plants, and used seed bioreactors to research and develop phytase, obtaining high-phytase-activity corn that fully meets feed requirements. Using biotechnology, she developed a new type of lactase and opened up a new, efficient, and safe pathway for lactase production. In 1997, she was elected an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, becoming the first Hunan-born female academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering.
Founder of China's Finite Element Superconvergence Theory School — Chen Chuanmiao
Chen Chuanmiao is a professor and doctoral supervisor at Hunan Normal University and a national expert with outstanding contributions, mainly engaged in research on differential equations and their numerical solutions. As early as 1977, while computing dams, he discovered the superconvergence of finite elements. In 1978, independently of the Czech scholar M. Zlamal, he creatively proposed the element analysis method and demonstrated the superconvergence of finite elements, achieving internationally leading results in the theory and application of finite element superconvergence. Both the 1996 international conference on finite element superconvergence in Finland and the 2000 conference in the United States recognized China's superconvergence research as one of the three major schools internationally, and Chen Chuanmiao is the main representative of the Chinese school.
First Chairman of Yanjing Overseas Chinese University — Zhang Guoju
Zhang Guoju (1894-1992) was a native of Yiyang County, Hunan Province, chairman of the All-China Federation of Returned Overseas Chinese, an overseas Chinese educator, and a deputy to the Sixth and Seventh National People's Congress. In 1919, he joined the Xinmin Institute founded by Mao Zedong and others. In 1920, dispatched by the Xinmin Institute, he went to teach at Tao Nan School in Singapore, beginning his overseas teaching career. In 1927, at Mao Zedong's invitation, he lectured at the Central Peasant Movement Training Institute in Wuchang. In 1929, he went abroad again to teach. In October 1958, he returned to China to settle down, and continued to devote himself to the cause of overseas Chinese education. He repeatedly donated congratulatory gifts from his students to the "Zhang Guoju Culture and Education Foundation," and was praised as "a model overseas Chinese educator" and "an outstanding figure in promoting Chinese culture." Yanjing Overseas Chinese University, founded in 1984 by the Beijing Federation of Returned Overseas Chinese, was among the first batch of pilot schools for the national academic diploma examination under the Ministry of Education, and Mr. Zhang Guoju was its first chairman.
The First Chinese to Receive the "Righteous Among the Nations" Honor — He Fengshan
He Fengshan (1901-1997), courtesy name Jiujing, was a native of Yejiahe, Heshan District, Yiyang City. He graduated from Yali University in Changsha and earned a doctorate in economics in Germany. He began his diplomatic career in 1935, serving successively as Consul General of the Chinese government in Vienna and as ambassador to Egypt, Mexico, Colombia, and other countries. From May 1938 to May 1940, during his tenure as Consul General in Vienna, Austria, Nazi Germany was frantically killing Jews, yet the embassies of 31 countries including Britain and the United States all refused to issue visas. Out of an international humanitarian stance and deep sympathy for the Jewish people, he issued "life visas" for immigration to Shanghai, China, to thousands of Jews, saving them from being killed. The parents and ancestors of Israel Singer, Secretary-General of the World Jewish Congress, and of the famous Jewish historian Eric, among others, were among those rescued from the jaws of death by Mr. He. Therefore, Jews respectfully called He Fengshan "China's Schindler," "a hero of the Jews," and "the pride of the Chinese people." On January 23, 2001, the Israeli government held a grand ceremony in Jerusalem and formally awarded He Fengshan the honorary title of "Righteous Among the Nations." He was the first Chinese to receive this honor.
New China's First Doctoral Ambassador — Yuan Nansheng
Yuan Nansheng was born in Yiyang, Hunan, in 1954. He graduated from the School of International Studies at Peking University and successively obtained a master's degree and a doctoral degree in law. He is a professor and senior economist. He was among the first batch in Hunan Province to obtain a college English major diploma through self-study examinations; he was the first person in the history of Peking University who had not finished primary school to pass the postgraduate entrance examination through self-study; and he was the first doctoral consul general, professor consul general, and doctoral ambassador in the history of New China. He once served as China's Consul General in Mumbai, and held positions including deputy general manager of Hunan Xiangxiu Import and Export Group Corporation and manager of its Shenzhen company, director of the Collective Economy Division of the Hunan Second Light Industry Department, director of the Personnel and Education Division of Hunan Second Light Industry Group and president and party secretary of Hunan Second Light Industry School, party secretary of the Hengyang Branch of Hunan University, and minister-counselor and chief of mission at the Chinese Embassy in Egypt. He now works at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The Only Chinese to Receive an Honorary Doctorate in Humanities from Connecticut Central University — Huang Zhangren
Huang Zhangren was born in 1916 in Liuyang County. He was a world-renowned industrialist and advisor to the U.S. Congress. In 1949, he went to Taiwan. In 1952, he went to the United States to study and received a master's degree in engineering from the University of Michigan. From 1955, he went to Thailand to do business, later taking Thai nationality, and served as general manager of Thailand's Sen Mei Industrial Company and chairman of Thailand's Sen Mei Petroleum Company. In the 1960s, he was listed in the "Who's Who in the World" published in Britain. In 1981, Huang Zhangren returned to the United States to settle down, serving as a special member of the Stanford University Research Institute, an advisor to the U.S. Congress, and an inner-circle member of the U.S. Republican Party Senate Council. In 1992, he donated funds to build Ouyang Yu Experimental Middle School in Hengdong County, Hunan, and established scholarships for students and faculty there. He donated funds to build the Zhangren Library at Yali Middle School in Changsha and the Ouyang Yu Library in Pingjiang County. In 1993, he was appointed honorary president of the Hunan Overseas Exchange Association. In 1993, Connecticut Central University in the United States awarded him an honorary doctorate in humanities. The university has only six honorary doctorates, including former U.S. Presidents Carter and Ford and former Secretary of State Kissinger, and Huang Zhangren was the only Chinese to enjoy this honor. In 1995, on the occasion of Mr. Huang Zhangren's eightieth birthday, the San Francisco city government even designated "December 29 as Huang Zhangren Day," which was also unprecedented in American history.
Hunan Concrete Testing Technology Expert — Liao Hong
Liao Hong graduated from the Department of Civil Engineering of Hunan University in 1997. He is chairman of Hunan Hongshang Civil Engineering Testing Co., Ltd., chairman of Hunan Hongshang Civil Engineering Technology Co., Ltd., and head of scientific research projects at Hunan No. 6 Engineering Co., Ltd. He holds nine national patents and three scientific research achievements, among which "Research and Application of the FZJ Attached Self-Lifting Scaffold," "Construction Method for Intelligent Detection and Control of Prestressed Concrete," and "Intelligent Detection and Control Technology for Prestressed Concrete" all reached the domestic leading level; he has published more than 40 papers in national and provincial-level journals. He was named an outstanding scientific and technological worker of Hunan Construction Engineering Group in 2008.
Related Records
The Giant Computer "Galaxy-I"
In the late 1970s, after all kinds of difficult negotiations, the state spent huge sums to purchase a giant computer from abroad. However, while buying the machine, China was also forced to spend money to hire two "foreign supervisors," because the seller explicitly stipulated: the Chinese side must not use the machine for other purposes; must not touch the core components inside the machine cabin; and powering on and shutting down must be handled by foreign technical personnel. This deeply stung the self-esteem of Chinese scientific and technological workers.
In early 1978, Deng Xiaoping, who had always paid attention to China's scientific and technological development, personally convened a meeting to hear reports from relevant departments on the development of strategic weapons. At the meeting, he clearly pointed out: "If China wants to achieve the four modernizations, it cannot do without giant computers! China must develop giant computers!" The task was then assigned to Zhang Aiping, director of the Commission for Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense, with the requirement to produce China's giant computer within five years.
In May 1978, General Zhang Aiping assigned this glorious and arduous research and development task to what was then Changsha Institute of Technology (now the National University of Defense Technology), requiring that the five-year timeframe could only be shortened, not delayed, and that the computer's speed must reach 100 million operations per second. From then on, with the Computer Research Institute of Changsha Institute of Technology as the main body and more than 20 units across the country participating in collaboration, the development of the 100-million-times giant computer officially began under the leadership of Professor Ci Yungui, director of the Computer Research Institute of Changsha Institute of Technology, who served as chief engineering commander and chief designer.
The 100-million-times giant computer was world-class cutting-edge technology. The researchers abandoned long repeated experiments and instead boldly made difficult leaps: they consulted a large amount of materials and designed a more advanced overall plan; creatively proposed a fully pipelined system architecture with bidirectional vector arrays; while increasing storage channels, they designed a prime modulus main memory that greatly reduced access conflicts; they selected high-speed dynamic MOS integrated devices for main memory, making the capacity of the 100-million-times machine far larger than that of mainstream foreign giant computers at the time, while foreign countries did not use MOS for main memory until two years later; they switched to air cooling and designed a wedge-shaped cylindrical duct structure for equal-pressure short-air-duct air supply; in the assembly of printed backplanes, they adopted advanced wire-wrap technology; they put forward the guiding ideology of software compatibility with mainstream foreign giant computers, pioneered research on parallel operating systems, vectorizing compilation, multilevel diagnostics, and parallel algorithms, and then were the first in China to adopt software engineering methods, developing various software tools and completing nearly 2 million lines of structured programming tasks, fully giving play to the performance of the giant computer's hardware.
On November 26, 1983, after five full years of tenacious struggle by the researchers, the development of China's first giant computer capable of 100 million operations per second — "Galaxy-I" — finally succeeded. With this, China became a country capable of independently designing and manufacturing giant computers, following only a few countries such as the United States and Japan. The successful development of the Galaxy 100-million-times computer thoroughly broke the Western major powers' blockade against China in ultra-high-performance computers, enabled China to join the ranks of world giant computer developers, and marked that China's computer technology had developed to a new stage.
Today, with the successive emergence of the Galaxy-II and Galaxy-III giant computers, the Galaxy series of giant computers has been widely applied in fields such as medium- and long-term weather forecasting, nuclear physics research, aerospace vehicle design, satellite image processing, organization of oilfield exploration data, development of new materials, development of new drugs, deciphering genetic codes, and even simulation of national economic operation models, producing enormous economic and social benefits and continuing to play a huge role in our economy and daily life.
On October 29, 2009, China's first domestically produced petaflop supercomputer (supercomputers, also known as high-performance computers or giant computers, are recognized worldwide as a high-tech commanding height and one of the most important scientific fields of the 21st century) made its debut in Changsha, Hunan. China had acquired the fastest computing tool in its history.
This computer, named "Tianhe-1," reached a peak speed of 12.06 quadrillion operations per second and a Linpack measured performance of 5.631 quadrillion operations per second, ranking first on China's Top 100 supercomputers announced the same day. This speed also means that if "Tianhe-1" computed for one day, a current mainstream microcomputer would need 160 years to do the same. The storage capacity of "Tianhe-1" is equivalent to the combined collections of four national libraries. These figures show that China became the second country in the world after the United States capable of developing petaflop supercomputers.
The petaflop supercomputer was a major project strongly supported by China's 863 Program. "Tianhe-1" adopted seven independently innovative technologies, including the "multi-array configurable cooperative parallel architecture," and its comprehensive technical level ranks among the world's advanced, with the characteristics of high performance, high energy efficiency, high security, and ease of use. Its emergence marked another major breakthrough for China in seizing the world's strategic high ground in high-technology fields.
Before the end of 2010, this enormous computer, composed of 105 cabinets, occupying nearly 1,000 square meters, and weighing 155 tons in total, would be installed at the Tianjin Center, one of China's two national supercomputing centers, to provide supercomputing services to users at home and abroad for large-scale scientific and engineering computing. Its first batch of major applications included oil exploration data processing, biomedical research, aerospace equipment development, weather forecasting, and short-term earthquake forecasting, among others.
Hengyang Steel Builds the World's Largest-Diameter Steel Pipe Unit
The Hengyang Steel 720 seamless steel pipe unit is a key project in Hunan Province. On July 18, 2008, the first factory building column was installed. The total investment in the project was nearly 1 billion yuan, and its products mainly include seamless steel pipes for building structures, seamless steel pipes for power station boilers, oil casing, seamless steel pipes for gas cylinders, and various other seamless steel pipes.
At 18:26 on July 3, 2009, a large-diameter seamless steel pipe with a diameter of 446 millimeters, a wall thickness of 25.5 millimeters, and a length of 8,500 millimeters smoothly passed through the key equipment of the 720 seamless steel pipe unit — the Pilger mill — and then, after processes including cutting and sawing, the walking beam furnace, and the sizing mill, came off the line smoothly. This marked that the world's largest-diameter steel pipe unit had been successfully built and put into operation at Valin Hengyang Steel Pipe (Group) Co., Ltd.
The 720 Pilger mill adopted by the Hengyang Steel 720 seamless steel pipe unit is the world's largest steel pipe mill, and its process has forging characteristics, making it suitable for producing alloy and thick-walled seamless steel pipes. After the Hengyang Steel 720 seamless steel pipe unit is put into operation, the company's product diameter will expand from 8-365 millimeters to 8-720 millimeters, and wall thickness from 30 millimeters to 120 millimeters. Hengyang Steel will thus become one of the few in the world and the only seamless steel pipe producer in China with a complete range of large, medium, and small specifications, and will build up the advantage of product serialization, able to meet the needs of the power station, petrochemical, building steel structure, machinery, and other industries for extra-large-diameter, thick-walled, high-alloy seamless steel pipes, greatly enhancing its ability to provide supporting services to customers. In particular, in developing large-diameter pipes for high-pressure power station boilers and nuclear power, the Hengyang Steel 720 seamless steel pipe unit has unique strength. After reaching full production, the unit can achieve an annual output of 200,000 tons, and it was expected to produce 35,000 tons of steel pipes in 2009 and achieve profitability in the same year. Discovery of Tumor Stem Cells
In 2006, the neurosurgery expert group at Xiangya Hospital discovered "tumor stem cells," and this major discovery may become a breakthrough for curing cancer.
The discovery of tumor stem cells was an unexpected gain. Their research group had originally been studying neural stem cells in order to repair damaged and injured nerve cells, but while studying several patients with brain tumors, they unexpectedly discovered that in their brain tumors there was a neurosphere, and this neurosphere was continuously expanding. After repeated analysis and judgment, they determined that it was "tumor stem cells," namely the mother cells of cancer.
In the last century, foreign medical experts speculated that there must exist in cancerous tumors a kind of mother cell capable of continuous self-renewal, namely "tumor stem cells." Professor Fang Jiasheng led several experts in exploration and confirmed this hypothesis. Through experiments, they further confirmed that brain tumor cells differentiate from a substance called "tumor stem cells," and that brain tumor cells continuously wrap around and spread to form lump-shaped brain tumors. As long as this kind of "tumor stem cell" is accurately identified and medically attacked, it may be possible to fundamentally destroy the mother body of cancer cells, and then the brain tumor cells around the mother body will gradually die off, and the entire brain tumor mass will also collapse accordingly. In Professor Fang's words, as long as the "tumor stem cells" are destroyed, all cancer cells can be made to die.
Professor Fang also believed that the occurrence of cancer in other parts of the body should follow the same principle, that is, there is a mother body that reproduces and expands. If this is the case, then as long as humans attack the "mother body" of cancer cells, the treatment of cancer may become more effective.
China's First Embryo-Donated Test-Tube Baby
On June 7, 1988, China's first embryo-donated test-tube baby was successfully born at the Second Affiliated Hospital of Hunan Medical University (now the Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University). This was a major breakthrough by Chinese medical workers in modern medical technology.
In 1978, the world's first "test-tube baby" was born in Britain. Lu Huilin, founder of medical genetics in China, and his daughter, the famous Chinese reproductive geneticist Professor Lu Guangxiu, resolved to open up China's reproductive engineering research and began theoretical preparation and overall design.
Through dedicated research and effort, they achieved remarkable results. In 1981, China's first human frozen sperm bank was established and became the national technical guidance center for sperm banks; in 1983, China's first baby conceived through artificial insemination with frozen semen was born. Subsequently, they carried out clinical cooperation with the First and Second Affiliated Hospitals of Hunan Medical University for more than five years. Through in vitro fertilization-embryo transfer research, in June 1988 two 'test-tube babies' were finally born via laparoscopic oocyte retrieval, one of which was China's first test-tube baby from donor embryo transfer, and they were the first in China to produce human embryo chromosomes; in 1990, using micromanipulation technology, they established China's first mouse preimplantation embryo genetic diagnosis model, making China the third country after Australia and the United Kingdom to master this technology; in 1991, they pioneered a method for separating normal sperm from highly abnormal semen and used this method to produce a normal baby, the world's first baby conceived through insemination after separation of abnormal sperm; in 1993, transgenic animal experiments succeeded, and the following year mouse microinsemination technology was established, laying the technical foundation for carrying out human microinsemination treatment; in 1995, aggregation chimeric mice were born, preparing the way for the later establishment of gene targeting technology; in 1996, nuclear transfer succeeded. When applied to humans, this technology can enable women of advanced age or with severe genetic defects and severely abnormal oocyte chromosomes to give birth to normal babies.
The birth of test-tube babies is regarded as another great miracle in medicine after the success of heart transplantation. It marks a qualitative leap in humanity's understanding of its own reproductive process. To date, about five hundred test-tube babies have been born in China.
Research on Core-Shell Biological Nanoparticles in Hunan
The 'Research and Application of Core-Shell Biological Nanoparticles' carried out by Hunan University passed expert appraisal on October 31, 2008. Professor Chen Hongyuan, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and other renowned domestic experts believed that this research, which possesses China's independent intellectual property rights, achieved major breakthroughs in both theory and production technology and made remarkable achievements in application, making it a major world-leading achievement in the field combining nanotechnology and biology.
Nanotechnology and biotechnology are the two major trends in scientific and technological development this century, and the emerging discipline combining the two has strong vitality. In recent years, the research group led by Professor Wang Kemin, president of Hunan University and doctoral supervisor, has aimed at the forefront of this research field and carried out theoretical and technical research on single cells and single molecules at the nanoscale, successfully developing a variety of new core-shell biological nanoparticles and applying for three invention patents for this original scientific research achievement.
In the process of producing core-shell particles, the research group achieved a major theoretical breakthrough, proving that whether the shell and core can combine depends critically on the charge between them, providing theoretical guidance for preparing various nanomaterials. On this basis, they achieved two breakthroughs in preparation technology. First, biological nanoparticles can be prepared at room temperature rather than at high temperature, making industrial production easier and enabling the development of a series of downstream nanoparticle products through biological modification; these particles are non-toxic, highly stable, and highly sensitive. Second, they achieved synchronous preparation technology, which compared with foreign production methods reduces reaction steps, lowers the difficulty of biological surface modification, and improves preparation efficiency.
The research group also carried out applied research on these remarkable particles in multiple fields. They used fluorescent nanoparticles smaller than cells and similar in scale to viruses for early diagnosis of major diseases such as leukemia and systemic lupus erythematosus, with sensitivity thousands of times higher than existing detection methods; they used functionalized magnetic particles to rapidly separate DNA material from animal and plant tissues or cells, providing advanced means for deciphering the mysteries of life; and they used dye nanoparticles to trial-produce new green cosmetics that absorb ultraviolet light, as well as anti-photobleaching, never-fading paints and coatings. Recently, they developed a new type of gene carrier nanoparticle, providing the latest technical means for gene diagnosis, treatment, and gene function research.
The development of core-shell biological nanoparticles is extremely difficult, and the research group successively overcame three major technical obstacles: first, nucleation technology, developing biological materials of uniform size with a diameter of only a few dozen nanometers; second, shell-coating technology, coating the core material with a transparent shell of inorganic molecules and degradable organic molecules several nanometers thick; third, biological surface modification technology, that is, attaching various functional biological macromolecules to the shell.
Shi Caijun, Expert in Cement and Concrete Materials Science
Dr. Shi Caijun received his bachelor's and master's degrees in inorganic non-metallic materials from the Department of Civil Engineering at Southeast University in 1984 and 1987 respectively, and studied at the University of Calgary in Canada from 1990 to 1992, earning a doctorate in materials science; from 1993 to 1999, he served as project manager and senior project manager at the Wastewater Technology Centre of Environment Canada; from 1999 to 2005, he served as chief scientist at CJS Technology Inc. in Canada. From 2005 to 2007, he served as principal scientist at the Research Center of W. R. Grace & Co. in the United States. He is currently chief scientist, professor, and doctoral supervisor of the 985 Project Innovation Platform at Hunan University, chair professor and doctoral supervisor at Central South University, adjunct associate professor at the State University of New York at Buffalo, visiting professor at Chongqing University and South China University of Technology, and adjunct professor at Nanjing Tech University and Wuhan University of Technology.
Dr. Shi Caijun has conducted extensive and in-depth research on the design, testing, durability, and utilization and disposal of solid waste of cement and concrete materials. He has published more than 120 high-level academic papers domestically and internationally, including 50 indexed by SCI, 52 by EI, and 8 by ISTP, and his SCI-indexed papers have been cited more than 400 times by others. Since 2004, he has published one English monograph (first author) and four English edited books (three as first author and one as second author), co-edited one English international conference proceedings, organized and chaired one international academic conference, organized five special seminars at the annual conventions of the American Concrete Institute, been invited 17 times to serve as a member of expert committees or session chairman at various international academic conferences or seminars, and been invited more than ten times to give keynote and plenary lectures. He has been invited by nearly 30 universities and major companies around the world to give academic lectures and special topic presentations.
Dr. Shi Caijun has presided over more than 20 projects sponsored by the governments and companies of the United States, Canada, and South Korea, with total research funding of several million US dollars. He has also developed multiple new technologies and products. He has obtained 4 US patents and 1 Chinese patent, and 8 international patents are pending. The intelligent self-healing anti-seepage material he invented was selected for use in the world's largest domestic waste landfill in South Korea, where the anti-seepage material portion was valued at 200 million US dollars. Dr. Shi Caijun personally designed and directed the laboratory and field demonstrations and tests of this technology in South Korea, and ultimately worked with a South Korean engineering design company to design the final construction plan. He has received a two-year industrial research fellowship from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, the Second Prize for Natural Science of Chongqing Municipality, and two third-class ministerial-level science and technology achievement awards.
Dr. Shi Caijun has been invited to review manuscripts for nearly 30 international journals and four international conferences, to review and evaluate project proposals for the US National Science Foundation, and has reviewed many project proposals for the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, Environment Canada, the Canadian International Development Agency, the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada, and the Catholic University of Leuven in Belgium.
Dr. Shi Caijun is a registered professional engineer in the Province of Ontario, Canada, and a member of multiple professional societies within the American Concrete Institute (ACI), ASTM International, the Canadian Standards Association (CSA), and RILEM. He has been responsible for or participated in the formulation and revision of multiple Canadian and American standards, specifications, and guidelines for cement and concrete, including standards for self-consolidating concrete, mixing water for concrete, specifications for sulfate resistance of concrete, and specifications for the use of fly ash and natural pozzolans.