The Arecibo 305m-aperture radio telescope was once the largest ground astronomical device in the world before the Five hundred meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope (FAST) being built. The Arecibo created many foremost achievements, such as joining the Apollo moon-landing Project, discovering the first extraterrestrial planet, discovering the binary-pulsar system firstly and indirectly proving the existence of gravitational wave predicted by Einstein, measuring the rotation period of the mercury accurately, and investigating radio transmission characteristics of earth's ionosphere accurately by radar. This paper tries to explore the background and significance of the construction and major achievements of the Arecibo, and briefly introduces the success of FAST in engineering construction and discoveries of early scientific exploration. Furthermore, it compares the features of the two telescopes, so as to survey the progress of Chinese science and technology. In terms of the FAST successful construction and operation and from the perspective of sci-tech history, FAST, as the product of the fourth industrial revolution, indicates the advent of a new era in China.

radio telescope  /  FAST  /  Arecibo  /  industrial revolution