Guizhou Echo | 他燃尽了一生，为中国打开了“天眼”
2017年9月15日晚，中国天文学家，72岁的“天眼之父”南仁东与世长辞。在生命的最后两年里，他备受肺癌的折磨，但直到生命的最后一刻，他仍然在向宇宙发问。3年后的2021年3月31日，中国500米口径球面望远镜（FAST）正式向全世界开放，向全球科学家征集观测申请。当这个消息登上微博热搜后，南仁东的名字又一次出现在了网友们的讨论声里。
On the night of September 15th, 2017, Nan Rendon , the famous Chinese astronomer who founded China's Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope (FAST), passed away at the age of 72. He had been suffering from lung cancer for the last two years, but he had still asked questions of universe till the end of his life. Three years later, on March 31st, 2021, China's Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope (FAST) had opened to global scientists and accepted observation applications from astronomers starting. After the news of FAST being opened to the world became a trending topic on Weibo, the name of Nan Rendong had appeared again in the discussion.
南仁东，FAST首席科学家（图片/新华社）
Nan Rendong, chief scientist of FAST. (Photo /Xinhua)
FAST（500米口径球面望远镜）位于贵州省平塘县，是世界上灵敏度最高、体积最大的单口径射电望远镜。FAST有一个充满想象力的中文名字“天眼”，意思是“天空的眼睛”。
FAST (Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope), which is the world's largest radio telescope, is located in Pingtang county, Guizhou Province. It has an imaginative Chinese name, Tian Yan, which means the "Eye of Heaven".
鸟瞰“中国天眼”（图片/新华社）
An aerial view of FAST. (Photo /Xinhua)
20纪90年代初，中国最大的射电望远镜口径不到30米，和美国的射电望远镜相比差距巨大。1994年，曾在日本担任客座教授的南仁东，放弃了高于国内300倍的薪资，毅然回到中国，决心建一个世界上最大的单口径球面射电望远镜（FAST）。他说：“别人都有自己的大设备，我们没有，我挺想试一试。”
In the early 1990s, the diameter of China's largest radio telescope was less than 30 meters, which was a huge gap compared with the one in the United States. In 1994, Nan Rendong, who had been a visiting professor in Japan, gave up his salary, which was more than 300 times higher in China, returned to China resolutely, and determined to build the world's largest single-dish radio telescope (FAST). He said, "Other countries have their own radio telescope, but we don't have it, so I really wanna try to built one."
图片来源：央视系列纪录片《国家记忆》
Photo From：Documentary series "The National Memory" of CCTV
就因为这一句话，年近半百的南仁东，便从1994年起开始了漫长的FAST工程选址、预研究、立项和建设工作。那些年，南仁东为了找到合适的选址，几十年间就坐着绿皮火车往返于贵州与北京之间，拄着竹竿，几乎走遍了贵州所有的洼地。待到国家发改委批复500米口径球面射电望远镜工程正式立项之时，他已年过花甲。
Because of his words, professor Nan Rendong, who was about fifty years old, started a long process of the site selection, pre-study, project approval, feasibility studies and preliminary designs of FAST since 1994. In those years, professor Nan Rendong spent decades shuttling between Guizhou and Beijing on green trains, leaned on a bamboo pole, and covered almost all the depressions in Guizhou to find a suitable site. He was already over 60 when the National Development and Reform Commission approved the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope project.
南仁东（左三）与工程技术人员在大窝凼施工现场检查施工进展。（2014年12月1日摄）。
新华社发（中科院国家天文台供图）
Nan Rendong (third from left) and engineering technicians checked the construction progress at the construction site of Dawodang. (Photographed on December 1st, 2014). Xinhua News Agency
(Picture provided by the National Astronomical Observatory of the Chinese Academy of Sciences)
2011年3月25日，FAST开工建设。作为项目的首席科学家和总工程师，南仁东起草了计划，监督了建造过程，并克服了望远镜的许多技术难题。他说，“‘天眼’如果有一点瑕疵，我们对不起国家。”一句再简单不过的话，让所有人泪流满面。而在“中国天眼”落成使用前，南仁东却罹患肺癌。2016年9月25日，“中国天眼”落成启用，南仁东终于见证了“天眼”开“眼”的一刻。但此后，南仁东的健康状况却急转直下，“中国天眼”落成还不到1年，他就因病与世长辞。
On March 25th, 2011, the construction of FAST started. As the Chief Scientist and Chief Engineer of the project, Professor Nan Rendong drafted the plan and monitored the building process and overcame many technical troubles for the telescope. He said, "If there is any problem with FAST, we could not face to our country." His words made everyone burst into tears. However, Nan Rendong suffered from lung cancer before the China’s FAST was put into use. On September 25th, 2016, when FAST was put into operation, Nan Rendong finally witnessed the operation of FAST. Since then; nevertheless, Professor Nan Rendong’s health deteriorated rapidly, and he died of illness less than a year after the completion of FAST.
中国西南部贵州省正在维护的中国500米口径球面射电望远镜 (FAST)
（新华社记者 欧东衢 2021年12月19日摄）
Aerial panoramic photo taken on Dec. 19th, 2021 shows China's Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Radio Telescope (FAST) under maintenance in southwest China's Guizhou Province. (Xinhua/Ou Dongqu)
2018年，国际天文学联合会正式将编号为79694的小行星南仁东的名字命名。从此，这颗星星将会以自己那缕星光洒在南仁东倾尽一生建设的那颗“眸”上。而南仁东穷尽一生向宇宙的发问，现在交由“天眼”解答。
In 2018, Asteroid 79694 has been named after Professor Nan Rendong with approval from the International Astronomical Union (IAU). Since then, there was a star sparkling a wisp of starlight and sprinkled on the "eye" which Prof. Nan had spent his whole life building. Professor Nan Rendong had spent his life asking questions of the universe, and now it is up to the FAST to answer them.
Photo From：Documentary series "The Most Beautiful Scientist"
出品：贵州卫视国际传播中心
视频来源：人民日报
