On January 6, 2017, the second "Distinguished Engineer Award" ceremony was held at the Great Hall of the People. Sun Zezhou, the chief designer of Chang'e 3 probe system, and other 30 winners of the "Distinguished Engineer Award" and 69 winners of the "Distinguished Engineer Encouragement Award" were commended.
The 30 engineers who won the "Distinguished Engineer Award" have won a total of 49 National Science and Technology Progress Awards and more than 570 invention patents. They are outstanding representatives of China's engineer team. Among them are the chief designer of Chang'e-3, the first winner of the world's first 5G-related world award, the winner of the "World Coal-to-Oil Award", and the leader of China's high dam design and scientific research. Many scientific and technological innovations they participated in have filled the gaps in China's relevant fields, and some scientific and technological innovations even rank among the world's top, which have a significant impact on the technological progress of the industry and the adjustment of industrial structure.
The Chang'e-3 Lander has successfully operated on the moon for three years, setting a number of world records. In April last year, China officially approved the Mars exploration mission, and China will launch a Mars probe in 2020. Sun Zezhou, the chief designer of Chang'e-3, will continue to serve as the chief designer.
"The distance between the moon and us is 380,000 kilometers, and the distance between Mars and us is 400 million kilometers at the farthest point, a difference of 1,000 times. Exploring Mars is not only a long journey, but also faces many new difficulties and challenges. However, we are confident that China will achieve its first exploration of Mars in 2020," Sun Zezhou said.
The "Broadband Microwave Millimeter Wave Spectral Analyzer" project led by the 41st Research Institute of China Electronics Technology Group has made China the third country in the world, after the United States and Germany, to manufacture a 50GHz spectrum analyzer. Xu Jianhua, deputy director of the Institute and professor level senior engineer, said: "As a scientific and technological worker, if our efforts can contribute to the country, the society and the motherland, this is our wish."
The "Distinguished Engineer Award" was initiated by the International Science and Technology Exchange Foundation China (ISEFC) and approved by the Ministry of Science and Technology and the National Science and Technology Awards Office. It aims to reward and recognize engineering and technical personnel who have made outstanding contributions to the front line of production and construction in the country, in order to inspire the majority of engineering and technical personnel to contribute to the transformation of scientific and technological achievements, accelerate industrial technological progress, and improve social productivity and comprehensive national strength. The award is selected every two years and is currently the most authoritative engineering and technical personnel award with the widest coverage.
This selection activity was officially launched in June 2016. After the evaluation and selection by the recommending unit and the first round of screening, more than 250 candidates were selected, distributed in eight fields including electronic information, environment, biomedicine, civil engineering and construction, energy, materials, machinery, and geological mining. At last, a jury consisting of CAS Member, CAE Member and other experts took six months to review and finally selected 30 "Distinguished engineers" and 69 "Distinguished engineers".
Over 6,000 people from all walks of life, including the Honorary Chairman of the International Science and Technology Exchange Foundation of China (ISEFC), the former Chairman of the Education, Science, Culture and Public Health Committee of the National People's Congress, Bai Keming, the former Vice President of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, Wu Hequan, experts and leaders of the ISEFC's jury, various industry associations, and all sectors of society, attended the event to witness and share the joy and glory of all the winners.