The Sky Eye

Rendong Nan (February 19, 1945 - September 15, 2017) was a researcher at the National Astronomical Observatory of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the founder, chief scientist and chief engineer of the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Radio Telescope (FAST) project in China. He received B.S. degree from Tsinghua University, China in 1968, and Ph.D. degree from Beijing Astronomical Observatories (now National Astronomical Observatories), Chinese Academy of Sciences in 1987. Since 1994, Professor Nan had presided over the promotion of China's large radio telescope program. He has made important contributions in radio astronomy research, major national needs, international co-operations, and scientific education. So far, more than 200 scientific papers have been published, with 7 monographs and more than 30 patents. He was a member of International Astronomical Union (IAU), where he was the vice-president of Division X (Radio Astronomy) and Commission 40 (Radio Astronomy) from 2003 to 2006 and then the president of both the Division and Commission in 2006-2009. Professor Nan received the "CCTV Annual Scientific and Technological Innovation Figures" in 2016 and won the first National Innovation Award Medal in 2018 and the national honorary title "People's Scientist" in 2019. Asteroid 79694 "Nan Rendong" was named in his memory.