Farewell, Prof. Kong
by Dr. C-K Chou, Motorola in Florida in Memorial Service of PIERS2008 Hangzhou, March 26, 2008

I am C-K. Chou, work for Motorola in Florida. Same as Prof. Kong, I am also from Nanjing. He loved Shanghai style steamed dumplings. I liked that too. He graduated from the Department of Electrical Engineering at the National Taiwan University in Taipei, me too but six years later.

I did not know Prof. Kong until I went to my first PIERS meeting in Pasadena, California in 1993. At that time, I just knew he was a famous electromagnetic scholar from MIT. I did not know that he was the 74th generation descendent of the famous teacher Confucius. With good genes, no wonder, Prof. Kong was such a good teacher! Chinese has a saying “桃李满天下Peach and plum all over the world”, that means many fruits, many students. Prof. Kong indeed had many students around the world over the 40 years of teaching at MIT. Then I got to know him better in the 1995 meeting in Seattle. Later, Prof. Kong invited me to organize sessions for PIERS, so I did that for the 1999 meeting in Taipei, 2005 in Hangzhou, 2007 in Beijing and 2008 for this meeting in Hangzhou. I also attended the 2006 meeting in Tokyo, and will be in Boston in the coming July. The past six PIERS meetings were my only opportunities to meet this remarkable figure of our time.

Last April 1st, after the Beijing PIERS meeting, I stopped by Hangzhou to give a seminar at the Academy on RF safety (Slide 1). Prof. Kong showed great interest in the topic and asked many questions. After the seminar, he invited my wife, daughter and me to a dinner by the West Lake. Before the dinner, we walked in a nearby park 花港观鱼 to build up our appetite (Slide 2). We had a very enjoyable evening, not just the delicious food. It was the opportunity to be with Prof. Kong and his dedicated and capable associate, Chen Hongsheng. My wife and I were very impressed by the humbleness of Prof. Kong. Although a giant in the field, he was such a low key, approachable and gentle person. To be with him, we felt so relaxed and comfortable, like being with an old friend for many years.

In the 2006 PIERS meeting in Tokyo, I brought Prof. Kong a box of pineapple cakes from Taiwan. When I handed it to him, he said “我最喜欢吃鳯梨酥了” that means “I like pineapple cakes the most”. Indeed, the next day, he told me that he already ate half a box in one evening.

Although coming to PIERS, we will not see him in person anymore, but Prof. Kong, he always lives in our memory, in our hearts. We respect him and love him forever.

Back to Kong's Memory Page.