First ground-to-ground missileOn November 5, 1960, China launched its first ground-to-ground short-range missile, Dong Feng-1 (DF-1). The DF-1 was launched from Jiuquan base in Gansu Province.
First atomic bomb explodedOn October 16, 1964, China successfully exploded its first atomic bomb in the western part of the country. The Chinese people had finally developed their own nuclear technology, becoming the fifth country equipped with nuclear weapons after the USA, USSR, UK and France.
First synthesized bovine insulinOn September 17, 1965, China became the first country to successfully synthesize bovine insulin, the first man-made protein. This was the biggest natural organic compound with bioactivity that had been synthesized at that time.
Smallpox eliminatedIn 1961, smallpox was eliminated throughout the entire country through the use of vaccinations.
Nuclear missile successfully launchedOn October 27, 1966, China successfully launched its first nuclear missile.
Chen Jingrun and Goldbach's conjectureIn May 1966, Chen Jingrun published a paper on what is now called Chen's theorem: every sufficiently large even number can be written as the sum of either two primes, or a prime and a semiprime (the product of two primes). Chen therefore made great progress in proving Goldbach's conjecture.
First hydrogen bombOn June 17, 1967, China successfully conducted its first hydrogen bomb test in the western part of the country.