Re:Belgium nearly invented the internet [video]
by Symbiote on Sunday January 08, 2023 @03:42PM
(#34302878)
> Fiber optics, CN
Meaning Charles Kao? A Hong Kong citizen working in Britain for a British subsidiary of an American company.
His family fled communist China, Kao probably wouldn't want his work attributed to that country.
Re:Belgium nearly invented the internet [video]
by karambahh on Monday January 09, 2023 @05:03AM
(#34308657)
That's definitely a very good point.
It also sort of matches my point: nationalities of inventions are, at best, flexible (and shouldn't be used, really).
The CCP would likely be adamant that fiber optics are a CN invention. Your remark would likely point to fiber optics as a UK one...
I purposely did not mention the "inventors" of these 3 random tidbits because, guess what? It's not that much important because invention is an iterative process and nationalism should not have any part in it. Don't be glad <country> invented <thing> because they usually didn't, and it was a collective progress made on top of something else.
However, the life of Tim Berners Lee is very interesting, the maths of Pouzin are cool and Kao got a Nobel Prize in physics...