Charles K. Kao

This is a Chinese name; the family name is Kao (高).

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Charles Kuen Kao 高錕
Born	4 November 1933 (1933-11-04) (age 76) Shanghai, China
Residence	Shanghai, China (1933–1948) Hong Kong England (1952–1970) United States
Nationality	United States of America United Kingdom[1]
Ethnicity	Chinese
Fields	Optics Electrical engineering Enterprise Higher education
Institutions	Chinese University of Hong Kong ITT Corporation Standard Telephones and Cables
Alma mater	University College London (PhD 1965) Woolwich Polytechnic (BSc 1957) St. Joseph's College, Hong Kong (1952)
Known for	Fiber optics
Notable awards	IEEE Morris N. Liebmann Memorial Award (1978) IEEE Alexander Graham Bell Medal (1985) Faraday Medal (1989) James C. McGroddy Prize for New Materials (1989) Prince Philip Medal (1996) Japan Prize (1996) 3463 Kaokuen (1996) Charles Stark Draper Prize (1999) Nobel Prize in Physics (2009)

Charles Kuen ("K. C.") Kao CBE FRS^[2] FREng^[3] (traditional Chinese: 高錕; simplified Chinese: 高锟; pinyin: Gāo Kūn (Kao Kuen); born 4 November 1933) is a pioneer in the development and use of fiber optics in telecommunications. Kao, widely regarded as the "Father of Fiber Optics" or "Father of Fiber Optic Communications",^{[4][5][6][7][8]} was awarded half of the 2009 Nobel Prize in Physics for "groundbreaking achievements concerning the transmission of light in fibers for optical communication".^[9]

Biography

Kao was born in Shanghai in 1933, but his ancestral home is in Jinshan, Jiangsu now part of Shanghai. He studied Chinese classics at home with his brother, under a tutor.^[10] He also studied English and French at an international school in Shanghai which was founded by a number of progressive Chinese educators including Cài Yuánpéi (蔡元培).^[11]

Kao's family moved to Hong Kong in 1948^[12] where he completed his secondary education (advanced level) at St. Joseph's College in 1952. He did his undergraduate studies in electrical engineering at Woolwich Polytechnic (now the University of Greenwich),^[13] obtaining his Bachelor of Science degree issued by the University of London.

He then pursued research and received his PhD degree in electrical engineering in 1965 from University College London^[14] (under Professor Harold Barlow) as an external student while working at Standard Telecommunication Laboratories (STL) in Harlow, England, the research centre of Standard Telephones and Cables^[15]. It is there that Kao did his first groundbreaking work as an engineer and researcher.

Kao joined the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) in 1970, to found the Department of Electronics, which later became the Department of Electronic Engineering. During this period, Kao was the Reader and then the Chair Professor of Electronics at CUHK; he built up both undergraduate and graduate study programs of electronic and saw the first graduation of his students. Under his leadership, the School of Education and other new research institutes were established. He then went back to ITT Corporation in 1974 (the parent corporation of STC at that time), and the United States, and worked in Roanoke, Virginia, first as Chief Scientist and later as Director of Engineering. In 1982, he became the first ITT Executive Scientist and was stationed mainly at the Advanced Technology Center in Connecticut.^[6] While there, he served as an adjunct professor and Fellow of Trumbull College at Yale University. In 1985, Kao spent one year in West Germany, at SEL Research Center. In 1986, Kao was the Corporate Director of Research at ITT.

Kao was Vice-Chancellor (equivalent to President in universities of the United States) of the Chinese University of Hong Kong from 1987 to 1996^[16]. From 1993 to 1994, he was the President of ASAIHL (The Association of Southeast Asian Institutions of Higher Learning)^[17].

Kao then worked as the CEO of Transtech. He is currently Chairman and CEO of ITX Services. As of 2009, he resides in Hong Kong and often travels to the United States to visit his family.

In 2000, Kao founded the Independent Schools Foundation Academy (ISF), which is located in Cyberport, Hong Kong.^[18] He stepped down from the Board of the ISF Foundation in December, 2008.

Kao has been suffering slightly from Alzheimer's disease since early 2004 and has speech difficulty, but has no problem recognizing people or addresses.^[19] Kao's father also suffered from the same disease. Kao and his wife would like to donate part of the prize money to aging research and care, possibly to the Hong Kong St. James' Settlement Health Care Centre for Old People, and the American-based Alzheimer's Association.^[20]

Pottery making, a traditional Chinese handwork, is a hobby of Kao's. Kao also enjoys reading Wuxia novels.^[21]

On October 6, 2009, Kao was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for his contributions to the study of the transmission of light in optical fibers and for fiber communication^[22], said: "I am absolutely speechless and never expected such an honour"^[23].

Ancestry and family

Kao's father Kao Chun-Hsiang (高君湘) was a lawyer, who obtained his J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School in 1925.^[24] He was a professor at Soochow University (then in Shanghai) Comparative Law School of China.^[25][26]

His grandfather was Kao Choi-Wan (Gao Chuiwan, 高吹萬), a famous poet, revolutionary, literator, and a leading figure of Nan Society (South Society, 南社) during the late Qing Dynasty.^[27]

His father's cousin was astronomer Ping-Tse Kao (高平子;^[28] Kao Crater is named after him^[29]) Kao has a younger brother named Timothy Wu Kao (高鋙), who is a civil engineer and Professor Emeritus at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C.. His research is in hydrodynamics.^[30]

Kao met his future wife May-Wan Kao (Née: Wong; 黄美芸) in London after graduation. His wife was a Fortran programmer working in the same factory as Kao.^[31] She is British Chinese. They were married in 1959 in London, ^[32][33] and have two children, a son and a younger daughter,^[32] both of whom reside and work in Silicon Valley, California.^[31]

Works and related history

A bundle of silica glass fibers for optical communication, which are used everywhere nowadays. Kao also first suggested that silica glass was ideal material for long range optical communication. See also strength of glass.

In early 1960s at STL, Kao did his pioneering work in the realisation of fiber optics as a telecommunications medium, by demonstrating that the high-loss of existing fiber optics arose from impurities in the glass, rather than from an underlying problem with the technology itself^[34]. Kao was pointed to the head of the electro-optics research group at STL in 1963^[35]; he took over the whole optical communication program of STL in December 1964 and decided to overall change their research direction. Kao not only considered the optical physics but also the material properties. The results were first presented by Kao in January 1966 in London, and further published in July with his former colleague George Hockham (1964-1965)^[36]a[›]. This study first theorized and proposed to use glass fibers to implement optical communication, the ideas (especially structural features and materials) described largely are the basis of today's optical fiber communication.

In 1965^{[35][37]b[›]}, Kao concluded that the fundamental limitation for glass light attenuation is below 20 dB/km (Decibels per Kilometer, is a measure of the attenuation of a signal over a distance), which is a key threshold value for optical communications (^[38]it was first reported by Kao to IEE in London in January 1966)^[39]. However, at the time of this determination, optical fibers commonly exhibited light loss as high as 1,000 db/km and even more. This conclusion opened the intense race to find low-loss materials and suitable fibers for reaching such criteria.

Kao, together with his new team (members including T.W. Davies, M.W. Jones, and C.R. Wright), pursued this goal by testing various materials. They precisely measured the attenuation of light with different wavelengths in glasses and other materials. During this period, Kao pointed out that the high purity of fused silica (SiO₂) made it an ideal candidate for optical communication. Kao also stated that the impurity of glass material is the main cause for the dramatic decay of light transmission inside glass fiber, rather than fundamental physical effects such as scattering as many physicists thought at that time, and such impurity could be removed. This led to a worldwide study and production of high-purity glass fibers.^[40] Theatrically, when Kao first proposed that such glass fiber could be used for long-distance information transfer and replace copper wires which were used for telecommunication during that era^[41], his ideas were widely disbelieved; later people realized that Kao's ideas revolutionized the whole communication technology and industry.

In 1968, Kao with M.W. Jones measured the intrinsic loss of bulk-fused silica at 4 dB/km, which is the first evidence of ultra-transparent glass. Bell Laboratories started considering fiber optics seriously.^[42]

Kao developed important techniques and configurations for glass fiber waveguides, and contributed to the development of different fiber types and system devices which met both civil and military^*[›] application requirements, and peripheral supporting systems for optical fiber communication^[43]. In mid-1970s, he did seminal work on glass fiber fatigue strength^[43]. Kao also played a major role in the engineering and commercial realisation of optical communication^[43]. He visited many research institutes including Bell Labs and even glass factories, discussed with various people including engineers, scientists, businessmen about the techniques and improvement of glass fiber manufacture. When named the first ITT Executive Scientist, Kao launched the "Terabit Technology" program in addressing the high frequency limits of signal processing, so Kao is also known as the "Father of Terabit Technology Concept"^[43][44]. Kao has published more than 100 papers and was granted over 30 patents^[43], including the water-resistant high-strength fibers (with M.S. Maklad)^[45].

At early stage of developing optic fibers, Kao already strongly preferred single mode for long-distance optical communication, instead of using multi-mode systems. His vision later was followed and now applied almost exclusively.^[46][40]

Kao is also a pioneer of modern submarine communications cables and largely promoted this idea. He predicted in 1983 that world's seas would be littered with fiber optics, five years ahead such trans-oceanic fiber-optic cable first became serviceable.^[47]

Ali Javan’s introduction of steady helium-neon laser and Kao’s discovery of fiber light-loss properties now are recognized as two essential milestones for the development of fiber-optic communications.^[38]

Honors and awards

Academic offices

• Life Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, USA (1979)^[48]
• Fellow of the Institution of Engineering and Technology, UK
• Fellow of Royal Society (1997 election)
• Fellow of Royal Academy of Engineering (1989 election)
• Fellow of Hong Kong Academy of Engineering Sciences, Hong Kong

• Academician of Academia Sinica^[49] (1992 election)
• Member of European Academy of Sciences and Arts
• Member of the United States National Academy of Engineering (1990 election)
• Foreign Member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences (1988 election)
• Foreign Member of Chinese Academy of Sciences (1996 election)

• Honorary Fellow of Queen Mary, University of London^[50]
• Honorary Professor of the Chinese University of Hong Kong (1996)^[51]
• Honorary Professor of Peking University (1995)
• Honorary Professor of Tsinghua University (1995)
• Honorary Professor of the University of International Business and Economics, Beijing (1995)
• Honorary Professor of Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications (1995)

• Hong Kong Affairs Adviser (港事顧問) (May 1994 - 30 June 1997)^[52][53]
• Advisor of Macao Science and Technology Council^[54]

Honorary degrees

• Honorary Doctor of Science, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong (1985)
• Doctor of Science, The University of Sussex, UK (1990)
• Doctor of Engineering, National Chiao Tung University, R.O.China (1990)^[55][56]
• Degree of Honorary Doctor, Soka University, Japan (1991)
• Doctor of Engineering, The University of Glasgow, UK (1992)
• Honorary DCL, Durham University, UK (1994)^[57]
• Doctor of the University, Griffith University, Australia (1995)
• Honorary degree in "Telecommunications engineering", University of Padua, Italy (Oct 18, 1996)^[58]
• Doctor of Science, The University of Hull, UK (1998)^[59]
• Doctor of Science, Yale University, USA (1999)^[60]
• Doctor of Science Honoris Causa, The University of Greenwich, UK (2002)^[13]
• Doctor of Science, Princeton University, USA (2004)^[61]
• Honorary Doctor, Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, P.R.China (2007)

Awards

• 1976: The Morey Award, American Ceramic Society, USA.
• 1977: The Stewart Ballantine Medal, Franklin Institute, USA.
• 1978: The Rank Prize, Rank Trust Fund, UK.
• 1978: The IEEE Morris N. Liebmann Memorial Award. Citation: "for making communication at optical frequencies practical by discovering, inventing, and developing the material, techniques and configurations for glass fiber waveguides and, in particular, for recognizing and proving by careful measurements in bulk glasses that silicon glass could provide the requisite low optical loss needed for a practical communication system".
• 1979: The L. M. Ericsson International Prize, Sweden.
• 1980: The Gold Medal, AFCEA, USA. Citation^ *: "for contribution to the application of optical fiber technology to military communications".^[43]
  
• 1985: The IEEE Alexander Graham Bell Medal.
• 1985: The Marconi International Scientist Award, Marconi Foundation, USA.
• 1985: The Columbus Medal of the City of Genoa, Italy.
• 1987: The C & C Prize, Foundation for Communication and Computer Promotion, Japan.
• 1989: The Faraday Medal, Institution of Electrical Engineers, UK.
• 1989: The James C. McGroddy Prize for New Materials, American Physical Society (APS). Citation: "for contribution to the materials research and development that resulted in practical low loss optical fibers, one of the cornerstones of optical communications technology".^[62]
• 1992: The Gold Medal of the Society, SPIE.^[63]
• 1993: The Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (CBE).
• 1995: The Gold Medal for Engineering Excellence, The World Federation of Engineering Organizations (WFEO), UK.
• 1996: The Prince Philip Medal of the Royal Academy of Engineering; in recognition of "his pioneering work which led to the invention of optical fibre and for his leadership in its engineering and commercial realisation; and for his distinguished contribution to higher education in Hong Kong".
• 1996: The 12^th Japan Prize. Citation: "for pioneering research on wide-band, low-loss optical fiber communications".
• The 3463 Kaokuen, discovered in 1981, named after Kao in 1996.
• 1998: The International Lecture Medal, IEE, UK.^[64]
• 1999: The Charles Stark Draper Prize (co-recipient with Robert D. Maurer and John B. MacChesney).
• 2006: The HKIE Gold Medal Award, HKIE (The Hong Kong Institute of Engineers).^[65]
• 2009: The Nobel Prize in Physics (1/2 of the prize). Citation: "for groundbreaking achievements concerning the transmission of light in fibers for optical communication".
• November 4^th, 2009: Dr. Charles Kao Day in Mountain View, California, USA.

Notes

^ a: Kao's major task was investigating light-loss properties in materials of optic fibers, and determine whether they could removed or not. Hockham's was investigating light-loss due to discontinuities and curvature of fibre.
^ b: Some sources show around 1964, for example, "By 1964, a critical and theoretical specification was identified by Dr. Charles K. Kao for long-range communication devices, the 10 or 20 dB of light loss per kilometer standard." from Cisco Press.^[66]

References

Monographes

• Optical fiber technology; by Charles K. Kao. IEEE Press, New York, USA; 1981.
• Optical Fiber Technology, II; by Charles K. Kao. IEEE Press, New York, USA; 1981, 343 pages. ISBN 0-471-09169-3 ISBN 978-0-471-09169-1.
• Optical Fiber Systems: Technology, Design, and Applications; by Charles K. Kao. McGraw-Hill, USA; 1982; 204 pages. ISBN 0-07-033277-0 ISBN 978-0-07-033277-5.
• Optical fibre (IEE materials & devices series, Volume 6); by Charles K. Kao. Palgrave Macmillan on behalf of IEEE; 1988; University of Michigan; 158 pages. ISBN 0-86341-125-8 ISBN 978-0-86341-125-0
• A Choice Fulfilled: the Business of High Technology; by Charles K. Kao. The Chinese University Press/ Palgrave Macmillan; 1991, 203 pages. ISBN 962-201-521-2 ISBN 978-962-201-521-0
• Tackling the Millennium Bug Together: Public Conferences; by Charles K. Kao. Central Policy Unit, Hong Kong; 48 pages, 1998.
• Technology Road Maps for Hong Kong: a Preliminary Study; by Charles K. Kao. Office of Industrial and Business Development, The Chinese University of Hong Kong; 126 pages, 1990.
• Nonlinear Photonics: Nonlinearities in Optics, Optoelectronics and Fiber Communications; by Yili Guo, Kin S. Chiang, E. Herbert Li, and Charles K. Kao. The Chinese University Press, Hong Kong; 2002, 600 pages.

Further reading

• Hecht, Jeff (1999), City of Light, The Story of Fiber Optics, New York: Oxford University Press, ISBN 0195108183 
• K. C. Kao, G. A. Hockham (1966), "Dielectric-fibre surface waveguides for optical frequencies", Proc. IEE 113 (7): 1151–1158.
• K. C. Kao, T. W. Davies (1968), "Spectrophotometric Studies of Ultra Low Loss Optical Glasses - I: Single Beam Method", Journal of Scientific Instruments (Journal of Physics E) 2 (1): 1063–1068. doi:10.1088/0022-3735/1/11/303
• K. C. Kao (June 1986), "1012 bit/s Optoelectronics Technology", IEE Proceedings 133, Pt.J, No 3, 230–236. doi:10.1049/ip-j:19860037
• K. C. Kao, A Time And A Tide (Autobiography of Charles K. Kao)
• K. C. Kao (July 2005)《潮平岸闊——高錕自述》(translated by 許迪鏘) Joint Publishing (Autobiography of Charles K. Kao)

See also

• List of Ethnic Chinese Nobel laureates

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Charles K. Kao

• 2009 Nobel Prize in Physics information
• BBC: Lighting the way to a revolution
• IEEE Oral-History: Charles Kao
• Mountain View Voice: The legacy of Charles Kao