BEIJING, July 8 (Xinhua) -- The winner of China's top sci-tech award for the year 2025, radar technology expert Ben De, has dedicated nearly six decades to advancing the country's radar capabilities.
The top sci-tech award was presented in Beijing at a meeting that brings together the national science and technology award conference, the general assemblies of the members of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE), and the 11th national congress of the China Association for Science and Technology.
"The top award is not only an encouragement and a driving force, but also a new starting point," Ben said. "As a scientist, my duty is to continue serving my country through innovation. With better conditions now, we must work even harder, be unafraid of hardships, and get ready to fight tirelessly, carrying this enduring spirit forward."
Born in 1938 to an impoverished farming family in northeast China's Jilin Province, Ben's early hardships forged his unyielding resilience.
He enrolled in Harbin Institute of Technology in 1957, and joined a research institute of the China Electronics Technology Group Corporation five years later, embarking on a lifelong mission to serve his country through his focus on radar technology.
In the late 1960s, with domestic phased array radar technology virtually non-existent, Ben was tasked with building China's first such system.
Operating out of a remote, harsh mountainous base, he and his team overcame complex technical barriers through years of relentless trial and error. In 1978, China's first independently developed long-range early warning phased array radar passed its acceptance test.
This breakthrough significantly bolstered China's national security by extending its surveillance range by thousands of kilometers, making it only the third country at the time globally to master large-scale phased array radar technology.
A new frontier emerged in 1979 when Ben was assigned to pioneer the development of an airborne pulse Doppler fire control radar, vital for beyond-visual-range air combat.
"I was uncertain, but the nation needed it, so I had to make it happen," he recalled. Leading his team from scratch, they tackled over 100 research topics to devise a development path tailored for domestic fighter jets.
As the radar entered a crucial testing phase, Ben, well into his fifties, insisted on personally boarding the aircraft for the rigorous tests. During these flights, he even faced life-threatening emergencies, including an in-flight engine failure and malfunctioning landing gear.
After a grueling decade, the "prestige" radar was finally born, providing crucial momentum for the modernization of the Chinese Air Force.
"A sapling planted in a pot remains a bonsai; only when planted in the deep mountains can it grow into a towering tree," Ben often says, a philosophy that perfectly encapsulates his life of cultivating innovation in uncharted territories.
Ben is also an academician of the CAE. Beyond his monumental achievements, he is known to the young researchers at his institute as a rigorous and compassionate mentor.
"What we admire most about Ben is his scientific foresight and holistic thinking," said Liang Zhiwei, a young designer at the institute. "While we often get bogged down in specific technical details, he sees further -- where the technology is heading and what the future holds. He always clears the fog and calibrates our direction."
Today, the 88-year-old remains as sharp and energetic as ever, and like a perpetually operating radar, he continues to guide the next generation. ■
