China honors founding scientist of FAST telescope

China has honored Nan Rendong, founding scientist of the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Radio Telescope (FAST), with a posthumous title of “role model of our times.”

The Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee announced the decision on Friday.

Nan had worked as the chief scientist of a team who selected the site for FAST and oversaw its construction since 1994, before his death due to sickness in September at the age of 72.

He had made important contribution to the FAST project and devoted to his work without considering personal gains, said a statement issued by the department.

As a true patriot, a devoted and selfless scientist and an upright person, he should be an example of all including scientists, the statement said.

FAST, currently the world’s largest single-dish radio telescope, has identified multiple pulsars after one year of trial operation, according to the National Astronomical Observatories of China (NAOC) in October.