从阿雷西博到中国天眼射电望远镜:工业革命的接力

Before the construction of the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope (FAST) in China, the Arecibo 305 m diameter radio telescope was once the world's largest ground-based astronomical device. It created many world firsts, such as participating in the Apollo lunar landing program, discovering the first exoplanet, being the first to discover a pulsar binary system and indirectly confirming the existence of gravitational waves predicted by Einstein, accurately determining the rotation period of Mercury, and implementing radar to precisely study the radio transmission characteristics of the Earth's ionosphere, etc. Arecibo unexpectedly collapsed in December 2020, shocking the whole world. To explore its construction background and significance, as well as its main achievements, compare the unique features of China's large scientific project FAST, introduce the innovative design of FAST, the characteristics of its engineering construction and the main scientific exploration results, and thereby glimpse the progress of China's science and technology. From the perspective of the history of science and technology, it is proposed that FAST, as a product of the fourth industrial revolution, heralds the advent of a new era.

阿雷西博305 m口径射电望远镜在中国天眼(FAST)建成以前,曾经是世界最大的地面天文学装置,它创造了多项世界第一,例如参加阿波罗登月计划,发现首个地外行星,首次发现脉冲星双星系统并间接证实爱因斯坦预言的引力波存在,精确测定水星转动周期,实施雷达精确研究地球电离层的无线电传输特性等。阿雷西博于2020年12月意外倒塌,震惊了全世界。探究其建设背景和意义、取得的主要成就,对比中国大科学工程FAST的特色之处,介绍FAST的创新设计、工程建设方面的特点和科学探测上取得的主要成果,借此窥视中国科技的前进步伐。从科技史角度提出,FAST作为第四次工业革命的产物,预示着一个新时代的来临。