News.hust.edu.cn The 2018 Top 10 Chinese Technological Advancements, sponsored by the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and the Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE), organized by the Work Bureau of the CAS Academic Divisions, the CAE General Office and the Chinese Science News and selected by CAS and CAE academicians by voting, were announced on January 2. “The most accurate gravitational constant G around the world,” measured by Academician Luo Jun’s team from the School of Physics, has been listed among them.

After 30 years’ hard work, Luo Jun’s physics team has obtained the most accurate value for the gravitational constant G around the world. The latest G value measured out by the team was published in Nature on August 30. The accuracy of the previous G values was close to 10^-5, but the consistency among them was only 10^-4. Due to the inaccuracy, many basic science problems related to it cannot be solved. Luo Jun’s team used two different methods — the time-of-swing method and the angular acceleration feedback method — to measure the G value. The accuracy of the two methods reached the highest level in the world, and the consistency between them was close to 10^-5.

It is reported that the annual selection event has been running for 25 times so far. With extensive media coverage, the selection results have drawn enormous attention from society, enabling the public to learn more about technological advancements made at home and abroad and playing a positive role in publicizing and popularizing science and technology.