Jin Au Kong, long-serving EECS professor, dies aged 65
David Chandler and Greg Frost, MIT News Office
March 13, 2008, updated March 15, 2008
Professor Jin Au Kong, an internationally renowned expert on electromagnetic waves who served on the faculty of the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science for nearly 40 years, died unexpectedly this week of complications from pneumonia. He was 65.
Kong, who joined the MIT faculty in 1969, was chairman of Area IV on Energy and Electromagnetic Systems in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, and leader of the Research Laboratory of Electronics (RLE) Center for Electromagnetic Theory and Applications.
Kong earned international acclaim for his work in electromagnetic wave propagation, radiation, scattering, inverse scattering and their applications in microwave remote sensing, geophysical exploration, and electromagnetic transmission and coupling in microelectronic integrated circuits. Recent research also included groundbreaking work on metamaterials, a new class of composites that exhibit extraordinary properties not readily observed in nature, and which show promise for a variety of novel optical and microwave applications.
Kong was unusually devoted to the generations of MIT students who learned and conducted research in his laboratories. In 1993, in a faculty profile interview in “RLE Currents,” Kong was asked what advice he had for MIT students interested in electromagnetism. “You must be able to think on your feet. No one knows better than you about the problem you’re working on,” he answered. “Most important of all, do not restrict yourself to a narrow topic. Be prepared and open-minded in making contributions to seemingly unrelated topics. Cross-fertilization is an intellectually rewarding exercise.”
He was awarded honorary doctorates by the University of Nantes and the University of Paris X-Nanterre, France, in 2006. At that time, RLE Director Jeffrey H. Shapiro, Julius A. Stratton Professor of Electrical Engineering, said, “Professor Kong has been one of the world leaders in his field for decades, and continues to make fundamental contributions and advances in electromagnetic theory and applications. In addition, he has a remarkable degree of commitment to the enterprise of scholarship worldwide, and to promoting excellence at MIT and beyond.”
Kong was also president of The Electromagnetics Academy and dean of the Electromagnetics Academy at Zhejiang University. Over the years, he also served as a consultant to the New York Port Authority, Raytheon, Hughes Aircraft, Lockheed Missiles and Space, MIT’s Lincoln Lab, and Schlumberger-Doll Research. He served as a visiting scientist at the Lunar Science Institute in Houston, a visiting professor at the University of Houston, and a high-level consultant to the United Nations. Kong was the primary organizer of the Progress in Electromagnetics Research Symposium (PIERS), a key discussion forum for electromagnetic research. He was also editor-in-chief for the Wiley series on remote sensing, the Journal of Electromagnetic Waves and Applications (JEWA). Among his numerous awards are the S.T. Li Prize and the IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Society’s Distinguished Achievement Award (2000) and the IEEE Electromagnetics Award (2004). A Fellow of IEEE and the Optical Society of America, he published more than 30 books on electromagnetic and more than 700 research papers and book chapters.
Born in Kiangsu, China, Dec. 27, 1942, Kong was a seventy-fourth generation descendant of Chinese philosopher K’ung-Futzu, or Confucius. He received a BS in 1962 from the National Taiwan University in Taipei, Taiwan, and an MS in 1962 from the National Chiao Tung University in Hsinchu, Taiwan. He came to the United States in 1965 and obtained a PhD from Syracuse University, where he continued as a postdoctoral research engineer until 1969.
Kong passed away early Wednesday morning, March 12. He was in the hospital fighting a severe case of pneumonia before his health suddenly declined due to complications from his illness. He passed away peacefully, surrounded by his family. Kong leaves a wife, Wen Yuan Kong, lecturer in the Department of Mathematics at the University of Massachusetts, Boston, and their two children, Shing SB ’94 and David SB ’01, SM ’04. David will also be receiving a PhD in Media, Arts and Sciences this year from MIT.
(This article originally appeared on the MIT News Office website)