China's top scientific research center, which developed the state's first atomic bomb, man-made satellite and contributed to China's manned space mission, celebrated its 55th birthday Monday.
The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) now parents 89 research institutes and connects 688 academicians and the country's most talented scientists.
Originating from Academia Sinica, which was founded in 1928, the CAS, which opened one month after the founding of the People's Republic of China on Oct. 1, 1949, garners the most outstanding scientists in China.
Years later, Qian Sanqiang, Chinese father of atomic bomb, Qian Xuesen, who masterminded the nation's missile project, and Zhao Jiuzhang, who initiated to develop the first man-made satellite, joined the CAS from their overseas research posts.
Different from the British Royal Society and the US National Academy of Sciences, which are honorary entities composed of academicians, the CAS both coordinates academicians and leads the nation's scientific research and development.
Led by Guo Moruo, a well-known author, since 1949, the CAS primarily assumed administrative responsibility on guiding the whole nation's research strategy and planning. The CAS also embodied research sections of not only natural sciences but also social sciences, which was separated from the CAS in 1977 for another research center named as the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
National research and development center for sciences and high technologies, the CAS is always a vehicle for scientific innovation, which was defined by the nation's first premier Zhou Enlai.
In keeping abreast of the global trends of scientific advancement in the information age, the CAS submitted advice to the central authorities late 1997, analyzing the knowledge-based economy in the world and challenges faced with by the Chinese.
On Feb. 4, 1998, President Jiang Zemin approved the CAS's proposal on trying to build a systematic innovation mechanism for the nation. According to the ambitious plan, the CAS expects to cultivate a handful of its affiliated research institutes by 2010.
From 1998 to 2003, statistics show, CAS researchers published 119 theses on Nature and Science, two world-class magazines, accounting for half of the total written by Chinese scientists. All the top 20 research institutes publishing the most theses listed by the Scientific Citation Index (SCI) in 2002 were from the CAS.
With fixed assets valued at 12.77 billion yuan (US$1.54 billion), the CAS takes the overwhelming lead over others in China in scientific research and innovation capability.
More than 1,000 researchers from 44 CAS institutes took part in the country's first manned space mission, or the Shenzhou V project. CAS scientists, together with American, British, French, Japanese and German colleagues, also completed 1 percent of the sequencing tasks of the human genome project. CAS paleontologists led global peers in research on Jehol vertebrate creatures, which resulted in 19 theses in Nature and Science in recent years. CAS researchers made some breakthroughs in therapeutic stem cell cloning and nanometer technology.
The highest think tank in scientific and social development for decision-makers, the CAS organized academicians to submit 120 reports and policy advices, on vital issues such as HIV/AIDS spreading and urban pollution prevention, to the central authorities from 1998 to 2003.
At a celebration Monday morning, CAS President Lu Yongxiang said, "The CAS should always make basic, strategic and pioneering innovations for the country's overall economic and social advancement."
(Xinhua News Agency November 2, 2004)
