Renowned author and scientist Chen Chih-fan (陳之藩) died on Saturday in Hong Kong at the age of 86, with people from both the academic and literary world praising his many achievements.
Born in Hebei Province, China, on June 19, 1925, Chen trained as an electronic engineer and left Taiwan in 1955 to study in the US. He received a doctorate from the University of Cambridge in 1971.
He taught at Princeton University, the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), Boston University and at National Cheng Kung University (NCKU).
“He was one of the main people behind the establishment of CUHK’s electronics department,” former CUHK vice chancellor Ambrose King said.
Tang Ming-jer (湯銘哲), a professor at NCKU’s department of physiology, called Chen a national treasure and a rare talent who was able to seamlessly fuse technology and literature.
Tang said Chen had been in poor health since suffering a stroke in 2008.
Chen is also widely known in the Chinese-speaking world for his essays, several of which are published in school textbooks used in Taiwan, Hong Kong and China.
“Chen’s death is a loss to the literary world,” said Chang Man-chuan (張曼娟), director of the Kwang Hwa Information and Cultural Center in Hong Kong.
Chang, a writer herself, said she had read Chen’s writings since she was a young woman.
Chen is survived by his wife.
Taiwan is stepping up plans to create self-sufficient supply chains for combat drones and increase foreign orders from the US to counter China’s numerical superiority, a defense official said on Saturday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, the official said the nation’s armed forces are in agreement with US Admiral Samuel Paparo’s assessment that Taiwan’s military must be prepared to turn the nation’s waters into a “hellscape” for the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA). Paparo, the commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command, reiterated the concept during a Congressional hearing in Washington on Wednesday. He first coined the term in a security conference last
Prosecutors today declined to say who was questioned regarding alleged forgery on petitions to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators, after Chinese-language media earlier reported that members of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Youth League were brought in for questioning. The Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau confirmed that two people had been questioned, but did not disclose any further information about the ongoing investigation. KMT Youth League members Lee Hsiao-liang (李孝亮) and Liu Szu-yin (劉思吟) — who are leading the effort to recall DPP caucus chief executive Rosalia Wu (吳思瑤) and Legislator Wu Pei-yi (吳沛憶) — both posted on Facebook saying: “I
Sung Chien-liang (宋建樑), who led efforts to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lee Kun-cheng (李坤城), was released on bail of NT$80,000 today amid outcry over his decision to wear a Nazi armband to questioning the night before. Sung arrived at the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office for questioning in a recall petition forgery case last night wearing a red armband bearing a swastika, carrying a copy of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf and giving a Nazi salute. Sung left the building at 1:15am without the armband and covering the book with his coat. Lee said today that this is a serious
A mountain blaze that broke out yesterday morning in Yangmingshan National Park was put out after five hours, following multi agency efforts involving dozens of fire trucks and helicopter water drops. The fire might have been sparked by an air quality sensor operated by the National Center for High-Performance Computing, one of the national-level laboratories under the National Applied Research Laboratories, Yangmingshan National Park Headquarters said. The Taipei City Fire Department said the fire, which broke out at about 11am yesterday near the mountainous Xiaoyoukeng (小油坑) Recreation Area was extinguished at 4:32pm. It had initially dispatched 72 personnel in four command vehicles, 16
RSS