Charles Kao Kuen was born in Shanghai on 4 November 1933, with his family roots in Jinshan, Shanghai, and died in Hong Kong on 23 September 2018. He came to Hong Kong for his schooling at St Joseph's College and later studied electrical engineering at Woolwich Polytechnic in Britain, taking a University of London bachelor's degree in 1957 and a doctorate from the same university in 1965. In 1966 he and George Hockham published a paper at Standard Telecommunication Laboratories showing that by greatly reducing impurities in glass fibre, light signals could be sent with very low loss, laying the theoretical basis for modern fibre-optic communication. Many at the time thought the idea far-fetched, but experiments soon proved it workable and it transformed global communications. He later became chief scientist at the American firm ITT and kept advancing fibre research. He returned to Hong Kong in 1970 to help found the electronics department at the Chinese University of Hong Kong and head it, and served as its Vice-Chancellor from 1987 to 1996, promoting communications research, adding engineering disciplines and championing general education. After retiring in 1996 he moved to the United States. Having worked in research and teaching in Britain, the United States and Hong Kong, he received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2009, was knighted in 2010 and in the same year was awarded the Grand Bauhinia Medal by the Hong Kong SAR government. He married Gwen May-wan Kao in 1959. In later years, living with dementia, he and his wife set up a charity foundation to support Alzheimer's patients. After leaving St Joseph's College he studied in Britain and from 1960 worked at Standard Telecommunication Laboratories, specialising in microwaves and optics. He received many international honours, among them the Marconi Prize (1985), the Japan Prize (1996) and the Charles Stark Draper Prize (1999). His 2009 Nobel Prize in Physics was shared with Willard Boyle and George Smith, inventors of the charge-coupled device, with Kao taking half. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society and of the US National Academy of Engineering and was knighted in 2010. He left CUHK in 1974 to become chief scientist at the American firm ITT before returning in 1987 as Vice-Chancellor. In 2010 he and his wife founded the Charles K. Kao Foundation for Alzheimer's Disease. His fibre-optic idea was doubted at first, but after Corning produced a low-loss fibre in 1970 it was proved right, and he became known as the father of fibre optics.
Kao's fibre-optic theory made the internet and long-distance communication possible, earning him the name father of fibre optics. As Vice-Chancellor he advanced electronics research and general education at the Chinese University of Hong Kong and broadened local engineering studies. In his later years he and his wife set up a charity foundation to support people with dementia, extending his public concern. His 2009 Nobel Prize brought Hong Kong science global recognition.
Achievements
- 1966 · Published the paper setting out the theory of fibre-optic communication.
- 1987 · Became Vice-Chancellor of the Chinese University of Hong Kong.
- 2009 · Awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics.