This Is Us Pays Sweet Tribute to Nasir Ahmed; All You Need to Know About The Genius Who Invented Video Calls and His Love Story With Esther Ahmed

This Is Us has made us all cry at some point in time during the show and is probably popular for the very same reason. The show is currently airing its fifth season where during an episode titled "In The Room," the team paid a sweet tribute to Nasir and Esther Ahmed and we are here tell you all about it. It all starts with a little back story! Kate (Chrissy Metz) and Kevin (Justin Hartley) were seen witnessing the births of their kids. While Kate welcomes her second child, daughter Hailey Rose, Kevin welcome twins, Nicholas — named after Uncle Nicky— and Frances into the world. All of this is happening while the coronavirus is at its peak and Kate and Kevin are far away from the family. This Is Us Season 5 Sneak Peek: Makers Release A Two-Minute Clip Ahead Of The Two-Hour Premiere On NBC.

To feel a little closer to the family and share the big news with them, the two connect with everyone else on a video call and that's where we are introduced to Nasir and Esther Ahmed. While the two characters don't directly relate to the storyline and arrive quite abruptly in the show, let us tell you that Nasir Ahmed had a big role in helping Kate and Kevin communicate via video chat with the rest of the family on FaceTime. In fact, Nasir is the reason that any of us could talk to our close ones or work via video during this tough time.

So who is Nasir, you wonder? Well, back in the '70s, he led a research team that developed the Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT). His is the reason why you and I can talk to people on a call even when they are miles away from us. If you love sharing pictures, you should be thankful to Nasir for it. College of Graduates in Economic Sciences of Tucumán (CGCET) credited him as the originator of the .jpg file format for photos. This Is Us Season 5 Teaser: The Pearsons To Start A New Chapter Of Family Drama, NBC Series Set To Premiere On October 27.

The Order of the Crest, a book about students who attended the Bishop Cotton Boys' School, states that Nasir's work on the DCT is also partly responsible for the creation of DVDs, digital cameras, high-def TVs, and the capability to send pictures online. Cool, right? In the episode, we get to see the beginnings of Nasir's research as he explained his video call idea to his wife Esther.

Nasir now is a Professor Emeritus in the Electrical and Computer Engineering department of the University of New Mexico. Esther is also a pretty impressive lady herself.  She has a master's degree in English from Kansas State University and a PhD in Spanish and Latin American Literature. The duo also released a limited edition book about their lives called Parallel Lives In Curved Space in 2018. This Is Us creators ended the episode by informing that duo are still married after meeting in 1963 at an international students gathering at their college. They even celebrated their 56th wedding anniversary recently.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Feb 17, 2021 06:18 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).