So, if Dr. Kao's family has not left Shanghai just before Mao took over China and started one of the greatest waves of mass murder and oppression of talented citizens in history, I might not be able to write this comment on NYTimes.com, and you might not be able to read it.
But the Chinese in Mao's PRC cannot read it still.
3
The third paragraph includes a major error. Fiber optic cables do not store information, they convey information, analogously with copper cables. There are other technical errors in this obituary as well.
12
Great inventor. But his fiber optic "wires" are used for transmitting information, not storing it. His other great invention, the CCD, can be used to store information.
15
Just shared the Nobel with the inventors of the CCD, didn’t contribute to it.