A press conference is held in memory of Huang Danian and his scientific achievements, May 18. [Photo/Jilin Daily]

Major scientific and technological breakthroughs have been made by research teams at Jilin University in Northeast China's Jilin province, as announced during a press conference held on May 12 in memory of its top scientist alumnus Huang Danian.

On Jan 8, 2017, Huang Danian, died of illness at the age of 58.

The returnee scientist working at Jilin University was a leader in the field of aviation geophysics in China. In the seven years since he returned from the UK, he led more than 400 scientists and created a number of "China's firsts".

Focusing on major strategic tasks such as mineral resource investigation, deep exploration and ecological exploration in complex landscapes, Huang established a mobile platform detection technology research and development center, which has laid a solid foundation for further development.

According to Zeng Zhaofa, Dean of the School of Earth Exploration Science and Technology of Jilin University, in the past five years researchers have continued with Huang's unfinished research and have made important achievements in the fields of mobile platform detection technology, deep earth exploration, and resource and energy exploration.

For example, researchers have carried out the development of gravity gradiometers based on new principles and developed prototypes of cold-atom interferometry, superconductivity and MEMS gravity gradiometers. The key indicators of the superconducting and MEMS principle gravity gradiometer have reached an internationally advanced level.

Jilin University has carried out the development of heavy-load rotary-wing UAVs, resulting in a longer flight time of three hours and a load capacity of 150 kilograms, making it easier to carry various types of geophysical equipment. This marked a huge step toward realizing geophysical unmanned and green exploration.

Over the past five years, the deep exploration project led by Huang Danian has also made various breakthroughs.

The 10,000-meter drilling rig being researched by professors Sun Youhong and Guo Wei of Jilin University has been applied in Daqing, Heilongjiang province, and has achieved the Asian record for geological science drilling.