BEIJING, Sept. 25 (Xinhua) -- An asteroid discovered by a Chinese
observatory has been named after Peng Huanwu, who made important contributions
to the development of China's first atomic and hydrogen bombs.
The asteroid bears the international code No. 48798. The naming has been
approved by the International Astronomical Union (IAU).
At a ceremony here on Monday, the 91-year-old scientist accepted the
certificate to mark the naming of the asteroid from Deng Nan, vice president of
the China Association for Science and Technology.
The asteroid was discovered by an observation station of the State
Observatory of China in Xinglong County, north China's HebeiProvince, on Oct. 6,
Peng's birthday, in 1997.
Peng, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), has been
mainly engaged in the basic and applied studies of theoretical physics and has
made significant achievements.
He has been honored many times for participating in the design and
manufacture of China's first atomic bomb, hydrogen bomb and satellite in the
1960s and early 1970s. Enditem
