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Noted Chinese IT expert Wang Xuan
Passed Away
PKU NEWS 2006—2-14
http://ennews.pku.edu.cn/news.php?s=139989007
Peking University, Beijing, February 14th, 2006: Wang Xuan, a prominent Chinese
IT expert, died of illness on February 13th 2006 at the age of 70.
Wang, the inventor of a computerized laser photocomposition system for Chinese
character typesetting and an academic with the Chinese Academy of Sciences and
the Chinese Academy of Engineering, passed away at 11:03 at Union Hospital in
Beijing.
Born in February 1937 in Wuxi, Jiangsu Province, Wang graduated from the
Department of Mathematics and Mechanics at Peking University in 1958. He has
devoted himself to computer sciences education and research ever since. From
1975, he was in charge of the research and development of the Chinese language
laser typesetting system and electronic publishing system. Since 1984, he has been
a professor at Peking University, and the director of the Institute of Computer
Science and Technology at Peking University. He was elected as an academician of
CAS in 1992 and academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering in 1994. In
1995, he became director of the Founder R&D center and chairman of the board of
the Founder (Holding) Ltd. He was also the vice chairman of the 10th CPPCC
(National Committee of the Chinese People‘s Political Consultative Conference) and
vice-chairman of the 10th Central Committee of the Jiu San (September 3) Society.
Wang was famed for his expertise and research in computer science, specializing in
the processing of characters, graphics and images. He patented the system for
Chinese character typesetting in Europe in 1982. The achievement laid the
foundations for technological reform that transformed China‘s traditional letterpress
printing technique into laser photocomposition.
During his lifetime, Wang has received many state-level and international awards,
including a gold medal at the 14th International Inventions Show in Geneva in 1986,
the 1995 prize for advancement in science and technology at the Ho Leung Ho Lee
Foundation, the State Preeminent Science and Technology Award in 2002.
Edited By : Wang Yi
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