科学家潘建伟说,我国首颗量子卫星之所以起名叫“墨子”号,因为墨子(墨家学派的创始人,也是战国时期著名的思想家、教育家、科学家、军事家)首先通过小孔成像实验发现了光是直线传播的,而且墨子提出了某种意义上的粒子论。因此,光量子学实验卫星用这位中国先贤命名,是非常妥帖的。量子力学的世界级大师塞林格教授曾经这样教导过他的一名中国学生:“你的努力, Pan Jianwei, a scientist, said that the first quantum satellite in China was named ”Mozi“ because Mozi (the founder of the Mohist School and the famous thinker, educator, scientist and military strategist in the Warring States period) Imaging experiments found that light was transmitted linearly, and Mozi proposed a sense of particle theory. Therefore, it is very appropriate that the experimental photonics quantum satellite be named after the Chinese sage. Professor Salinger, a world-class master of quantum mechanics, once taught one of his Chinese students this way: ”Your efforts,