Public weighs in on giant telescope design

NANJING - The Chinese public has developed an interest in the development of the world's largest telescope, as scientific disagreements about its design broke into cyberspace.

Chen Jiansheng, a senior astronomer at Peking University, sent a mass email to China's leading astronomers last week opposing the existing design of the telescope. Two academicians, Cui Xiangqun, the telescope's chief engineer, and Su Dingquang, an astronomer at Nanjing University, jointly responded on social media in defense of the original plan.

The public has now been drawn into the scientific infrastructure development process, and is picking sides.