In January 2005, 584 CAS and CAE academicians voted these
accomplishments as 2004's Top 10 Advances in Science and
Technology:
1. The 10,000 Gigaflop supercomputer, one of the world's top-10
supercomputers.? Developed by the CAS Institute of Computing
Technology, the Dawning Corporation and the Shanghai Supercomputer
Center, the Dawning 4000A went into operation on 15th November 2004
in Shanghai, making China the third country to develop commercial
10,000 Gigaflop supercomputer capability.??
2. The first totally Chinese commercial nuclear power plant. The
first such plant to be designed, built, managed and operated with
exclusively Chinese resources-- Qinshan Nuclear Power Plant Phase
2, Unit 2 -- formally went into commercial use on 3rd May
2004.??
3. Commercial operation of the West-East Gas Pipeline. On 30th
December 2004, after more than four years in construction, the
4,000 km-long channel conveying natural gas from West to East China
went into commercial use. The delivery of this facility involved
over 7,000 scientific and technological challenges, and deployed
many high-tech techniques and facilities.
4. Opening of the first trunk net of the next generation Internet.
On 25th December 2004, the trunk net of the CERNET 2 of the China
Next Generation Internet (CNGI) was officially opened, signaling
the start of the all-around construction of the next-generation
Internet.
5. Realization of the Double Star Satellite Program with the
successful launch of the TC-2 satellite. On 25th July 2004, China
launched the TC-2 satellite from the Long March II C Carrier Rocket
from Taiyuan Launch Center, thus completing the Double Star
Satellite Program proposed in 1997. The program, together with
European Space Agency's Cluster II Program, is the first ever to
probe geospace three-dimensionally from six points.?
6. Manufacture of "super-switch" nano materials. The CAS Chemistry
Research Institute achieved reversible transformation between
super-hydrophobic and super-hydrophilic surface materials of
nanometer structure by adjusting "light" and "temperature", and
produced "switch" materials, a major research advance in the field
of functional nanometer interface materials.?
7. Manufacture of a high accuracy underwater positioning navigation
system. Developed by the China Topography Research Institute and
other organizations, at 45 meters under water, its level
positioning precision reaches 5 cm, and its sound precision 30 cm.
China is one of the few countries to have mastered this
technology.?
8. Solution of the membrane protein crystal structure
problem.? In the field of photosynthesis mechanism there was
great progress in the work on "crystal structure of the main
complexes for catching light in spinach (LHC-II)". This is the
first important photosynthesis membrane protein crystal structure,
determined by Chinese scientists through six years' work and
solving an acknowledged problem in leading edge technology.
9. Important breakthrough in quantum information experimentation.
The University of Science and Technology of China realized stealth
transformation of cinque-particle entanglement and open-ended
quantum states, showing that China has entered the international
advanced level in multi-entanglement research.?
10. Breakthrough in oil and gas resource strategic investigation.
Preliminary figures from all-around strategic investigation into
oil and gas resources within China's territorial waters estimate
them at over 40 billion tons oil equivalence -- particularly in the
huge areas of heavy Mesozoic layer found in deep water areas of the
South China Sea, with a sedimentary layer over ten thousand meters
deep. This points the way for further oil and gas prospecting in
deep water areas.
