Three Lunar Craters Named

The USGS Astrogeology Science Center has announced the naming of three craters on the Moon; the honorees are: Bi Sheng, Cai Lun, and Zhang Yuzhe.

Bi Sheng (990-1051) was the Chinese inventor of the first known movable type printing press technology, using type made out of porcelain. Bi Sheng Crater is located at 78.4° North, 148.6° East, northwest of Milankovic Crater on the far side of the Moon.

Cai Lun (50-121) was the Chinese inventor of paper and the paper-making process. His method for making paper, although revised many times over the centuries, is still the same basic process used to make paper today. Cai Lun Crater is located at 80.3° North, 113.5° East, near the lunar north pole and lying just east of Nansen Crater.

Zhang Yuzhe (1902-1986) was a Chinese astronomer; he received his PhD from the University of Chicago in 1929, but worked primarily in China. He was head of the astronomy research institute at the National Central University (1941-1950), and director of Purple Mountain Observatory (1950-1984) in Nanjing. He was also a member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Most of his research was devoted to asteroids, comets and variable stars. He discovered one asteroid, 3789 Zhongguo, and has one asteroid named after him, 2051 Chang. Zhang Yuzhe Crater is located at 69.1° South, 137.8° West, and lies north of Zeeman Crater on the moon's far side, near the lunar south pole.