Choi Soon-dal ( ko, 최순달,; b. 1931 June 20 in Daegu – d. 2014 October 18 in Seoul) was a scientist who pioneered

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

's satellite-building program and greatly advanced Korea into the new digital information era. Dr. Choi's contributions to pioneering Korean space development have not only been widely publicized, but he is also regarded as the father of Korea's space development. Choi was instrumental in helping the

Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute The Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute () is a Korean government-funded research institution in Daedeok Science Town in Daejeon, Republic of Korea. Overview Established in 1976, ETRI is a non-profit government-funded research i ...

develop the Electronic Switching System (TDX), the world's tenth such system, which propelled Korea to join the digital information era. He served as a minister in the

Ministry of Information and Communication (South Korea) The Ministry of Information and Communication or MIC was a ministry of the government of South Korea. Its headquarters are located in Jongno-gu, central Seoul. The last minister was Rho Jun-hyong, who began serving in March 2006. The ministry was d ...

. He was the visionary first dean of the Korean Institute of Technology, which later became a part of

KAIST The Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) is a national research university located in Daedeok Innopolis, Daejeon, South Korea. KAIST was established by the Korean government in 1971 as the nation's first public, research ...

. As a professor at KAIST, he created the

KAIST Satellite Technology Research Center KAIST Satellite Technology Research Center (SaTReC; ko, 인공위성연구센터), is a university based research center for satellite technology and applications research. Space Programme SaTReC, which is located within the Korea Advanced Ins ...

and led a collaboration with students from KAIST and the

University of Surrey The University of Surrey is a public research university in Guildford, Surrey, England. The university received its royal charter in 1966, along with a number of other institutions following recommendations in the Robbins Report. The institut ...

to successfully engineer the first Korean satellite,

KITSAT-1 KITSAT-1 or KITSAT-A (Korean Institute of Technology Satellite) is the first satellite to be launched for the South Korea. Once launched, the satellite was given the nickname "Our Star" ( 우리별). The KITSAT-1 is a low Earth orbit (LEO) sate ...

, also named "Our Star." The satellite was successfully launched from the

Guiana Space Center The Guiana Space Centre (french: links=no, Centre spatial guyanais; CSG), also called Europe's Spaceport, is a European spaceport to the northwest of Kourou in French Guiana, a region of France in South America. Kourou is located approximatel ...

in 1992. Choi became a member of the

Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences The Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences or ''Kungliga Ingenjörsvetenskapsakademien'' (IVA), founded on 24 October 1919 by King Gustaf V, is one of the royal academies in Sweden. The academy is an independent organisation, which promo ...

in 1985. Choi died on October 18, 2014, at the age of 83. He was posthumously awarded a national medal of honor for his contribution to science and technology on October 21, 2014. He is the fourth civilian allowed to be buried at the

Daejeon National Cemetery The Daejeon National Cemetery () is located in Hyeonchungwon-ro, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon, South Korea. It is South Korea's second national cemetery after the Seoul National Cemetery and is overseen by the Ministry of Patriots' and Veterans' Affair ...

. He is survived by his wife, Hong Hae Jung, and his four children. He has six grandchildren who currently reside in the United States.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Choi, Soon-dal South Korean scientists 1931 births 2014 deaths Seoul National University alumni University of California, Berkeley alumni Stanford University alumni Academic staff of KAIST