"It's 19:00 Beijing time"
You must have heard this chime countless times
But you may not know
"Beijing time" does not exist naturally
Its birth condensed the efforts of researchers
Recently, the "My Family, My Country" column of the general station was interviewed
He is known as the "mother of Beijing time" as an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences
Ye Shuhua, the pioneer of astronomical geodynamics in China
Ye Shuhua recalled the test: It was very difficult at that time
The elderly Ye Shuhua was born in 1927 and has devoted himself to China's astronomical undertakings for 70 years. Today, she still appears every day in the office of the Shanghai Astronomical Observatory of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
When he first came to xujiahui observatory (now shanghai observatory), Ye Shuhua did the work of measuring time. As for the statement that he created "Beijing time", Ye Shuhua said that it was not accurate, "Not only me, but several people doing it together." ”
In cutting-edge fields such as national defense and surveying and mapping, timing accuracy requires errors of one thousandth of a second or even smaller. However, at the beginning of the founding of New China, the accuracy of Measuring Time in China was at the bottom of the world. Ye Shuhua recalled, "In fact, it was very difficult at that time, on the one hand, there was no money, we could not buy good things, and on the other hand, our technology was also very poor at that time. ”
"Once you know the value of your work
Will be fully committed."
Since 1958, the Xujiahui Observatory has set out to prepare for the construction of a world-time integrated system, and 32-year-old Ye Shuhua has taken up the burden of this work. Timing is a boring and meticulous work, the observer while staring intently, while recording, with the star good or bad directly affect the accuracy of observation.
In front of the huge equipment, the petite Ye Shuhua was very difficult to operate, so she added a wooden board and stood on it to track and observe the stars, regardless of cold and heat, meticulous. In addition, Ye Shuhua also improved the calculation method to ensure long-term stability of time measurement.
Ye Shuhua said: "Once you know the value of your work, you will devote yourself wholeheartedly." ”
Since 1964, China's world time measurement accuracy has jumped to the second place in the world, and a year later, China's "comprehensive universal time" system has passed the national appraisal and officially released to the whole country as a time benchmark, and "Beijing time" has been used ever since.
Source: CCTV News