Ding Shiqian

Stories

First thorium nuclear clocks begin ticking in Vienna and Beijing

As of October 2026: Leads the Chinese team that built one of the first two nuclear clocks

For 70 years, the world's most precise clocks have counted the vibrations of electrons orbiting an atom. In early October 2026, two teams — one in Vienna, one in Beijing — unveiled the first clocks that read time from the ticking of a thorium nucleus instead.

Updated Oct 11