Prof. Khang and his student, Prof. Dr. Luong Chi Mai, Deputy Director of the Institute of Information Technology who has followed the glorious and difficult scientific path of her teacher. Prof. Khang (right) talks with Prof. Setsuo Ohsuga, first President of the Asia-Pacific Conference on Artificial Intelligence, about development in this field in Vietnam. Prof. Khang and members of the Jury Panel assess the CNC cutting machine made by contestant Le Van Kien at the Vietnam Intelligence Contest 2001. Prof. Khang gives out opponent remarks against contestants who present their software products at the Vietnam Intelligence Contest 2004.   Professor, Doctor of Science Bach Hung Khang has been widely known among the Vietnamese Information Technology (IT) circle not only as a leading expert in artificial intelligence and natural linguistics processing, but also for his great contribution to Vietnamese IT, right from the very first days of its foundation. However, a little known fact is that he brought the first computer to Northern Vietnam during war time. Talking with Prof. Bach Hung Khang we noticed in this old native of Nghe An Province a profound knowledge and a brilliant sense of humour. Hearing so many memories – both of happiness and sorrow - we became aware of the fact that his life has been closely attached to the development of Vietnamese IT. Among the memorable stories he recalled, there was one about how he brought the first computer to Northern Vietnam and used it to count the votes at the Vietnam Communist Party's Congress election in 1986. As recalled by Prof. Khang, in 1966 when he was studying in the final year at the electronics computer faculty of the Belarus National University, he was asked to return home to work for the State Scientific and Technical Committee (present-day Ministry of Sciences and Technology). As per this request, Khang joined a group of Vietnamese on-the-job-trainees to go to the Academy of Sciences of the former Soviet Union (USSR) to research and work with the Minsk-22 electronic computer, one of the world's first computers made by the Soviet Union. In 1967, at the Minsk Plant of Belarus, with assistance from the local experts, Khang and his group of mates successfully assembled four electronic computers, of which one was sent to Cuba and one to Vietnam. It was a long and hard trip to bring the first computer to Northern Vietnam at that time, Prof. Khang conceded. Due to some secret reasons in the context of war time, Khang packed the computer in more than 20 wooden containers, which are as big and tall as a man, and transported them to Vietnam by railway. According to the initial plan, the computer would be installed in a room which was built inside a hill. But, due to unstable temperature and high humidity in the room that was not good for the computer, the Minsk-22 computer was installed on the ground floor of Building No. 39 on Tran Hung Dao Street, Hanoi. After three months, it was completely assembled and officially began operating in late 1968, ushering in a new era of computerization in Vietnam. As for Prof. Bach Hung Khang, the Minsk-22 computer was of great significance not only because it was the first one of this kind used in Northern Vietnam, but it was a milestone, marking the formation of Vietnamese IT. Many people who had worked with this computer at that time later became leading officials of Vietnamese IT branch. Prof. Dr. Bach Hung Khang, a leading expert in artificial intelligence of Vietnam (Jan. 2009). Besides telling us about the background of the Minsk-22 computer, Prof. Khang provided us with more interesting details relating to it. In late 1985, Khang and some colleagues from the Institute of Computer Science and Cybernetics (present-day the Institute of Information Technology) were entrusted with the task of setting up an automated vote counting system to serve the 6th Congress of the Vietnam Communist Party in 1986. Khang said he and his colleagues went sleepless for several days because of worrying about the task. At that time, there were only a few PC-XT and PC-286 computers in use at different branches, while the group needed at least 20 computers to implement the assignment. After a month the Congress' Organizing Committee gathered enough computers and Khang and his assistants began to design a network including one switchboard and several servers which were used to count about 2,000 votes. The system worked flawlessly.  To some, such a task may seem simple, but four decades ago it was really an achievement that greatly encouraged the domestic IT circle. At present, Prof. Khang is retired and he is not busy with any managing work. Whenever someone mentions his contribution to the nation’s IT, he always answers honestly, "Nothing is born alone. Whatever I have obtained so far is due to sharing and support from my colleagues, my relatives and friends." Professor, Doctor of Science Bach Hung Khang, born in 1942 in Nghe An Province, Central Vietnam, is a leading expert in the artificial intelligence and natural linguistics processing of Vietnam . In 1979, he was awarded the Doctor of Science Diploma on computer science and cybernetics from the Academy of Sciences of the USSR . Prof. Khang is former Director of the Institute of Information Technology , a member of the State Council for Professor Title in IT, and Chairman of the Jury of the Vietnam Intelligence Contest. Story by Thanh Hoa - Photos by Thong Thien