In this biography
Quick facts
- Born
- 4 November 1933
- Died
- 23 September 2018
- Birthplace
- Shanghai, China
- Country
- United Kingdom
- Nationality
- Not independently established
- Known for
- Fibre-optics pioneer.
- Doctoral training
- UCL, 1965
- Research partner
- George Hockham
- University leadership
- CUHK vice-chancellor
Why this life matters
He linked a materials question to the organisation of a communication system, then helped build the institutions that trained later engineers.
Timeline
Key moments
Industrial career begins
Electrical-engineering graduate joins STC.
Collaborative paper
Study with Hockham.
University leadership
CUHK vice-chancellorship.
Physics recognition
Nobel Prize share for fibre communication.
From Shanghai to electrical engineering
Kaoโs family left Shanghai in 1948 and settled in Hong Kong. He attended St Josephโs College, moved to Britain in 1953 and graduated from Woolwich Polytechnic in 1957.
He completed his UCL doctorate in 1965 under Harold Barlow.
His training crossed school, industrial laboratory and university settings. That combination matters to a career in which an attractive physical idea also had to become a measurable engineering proposition.
A team studies the loss
After joining Standard Telephones & Cables, he transferred to Standard Telecommunication Laboratories in Harlow.
His 1966 study with George Hockham made low-loss glass a serious route towards optical communications.
His later lecture distinguishes material absorption and scattering from waveguide imperfections. Hockham concentrated on waveguide tolerances and joint losses.
The division of work is more informative than a solitary-inventor label: a useful transmission system needed both a viable material and a way to guide and connect it.
Engineering and institutional leadership
He established CUHKโs electronics department during 1970โ1974, then returned to ITT in the United States, becoming chief scientist and later directing corporate research.
He served as CUHKโs third vice-chancellor.
His term ran from 1987 to 1996.
The academic work broadened his contribution from research results to programmes, staff and students. His industrial career similarly depended on organisations able to turn a promising proposal into sustained development.
Recognition and later public work
The 2009 physics Nobel awarded him half the prize for optical-fibre communication; Boyle and Smithโs other half concerned the CCD.
After retirement he remained involved in education and industry. With his wife Gwen he established a foundation supporting people affected by Alzheimerโs disease and their families.
This later activity belongs to his public career alongside the earlier engineering work. The prize recognised a specific contribution, rather than ownership of every subsequent fibre technology.
Quick answers
Frequently asked questions about Charles Kao
- Was the communication system a single-person invention?
- No. Distinguish the material argument, waveguide analysis and later manufacturing and system development.
- Why read the later lecture carefully?
- It is a retrospective account that identifies earlier experiments and papers; those underlying works have not all been independently inspected here.
Keep exploring
Lives connected to this story
- Claude Shannon
Compare a different contribution to the foundations of communication.
- Andre Geim
Read Geimโs graphene work as another example of a materialโs useful properties being established experimentally.
Sources and further reading
Explore the evidence
These references support the biography and offer further reading. Official records, first-person accounts and independent reporting provide different perspectives; image records document attribution and licensing.
- 1. Nobel Prize OutreachCharles Kuen Kao: Facts
- 2. Charles K. Kao / Nobel FoundationCharles K. Kao: Biographical
- 3. Optica (then OSA)Charles Kao: In Memoriam, 23 September 2018
- 4. Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2 October 2018In Memory of Professor Sir Charles Kao 1933โ2018
- 5. Charles K. Kao / Nobel Foundation, 2009 lectureSand from Centuries Past: Send Future Voices Fast
Selected pages were read. The lecture was presented by his wife; the article does not claim Kao delivered it personally or that every cited paper was read.