Charles K Kao (1933-2018)

Awarded the Prize “for his groundbreaking achievements concerning the transmission of light in fibers for optical communication.”

Charles K. Kao was an American British Physicist who was born in Shanghai, China on 4 November 1933. In 1949 he moved to Hongkong with family. He did his undergraduate studies in electrical engineering at Woolwich Polytechnic (now the University of Greenwich), obtaining his Bachelor of Science degree. He then pursued research received his Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering in 1965 from University College London. He was Vice-Chancellor of the Chinese University of Hong Kong from 1987 to 1996. In 1996, he became the Foreign Member in Chinese Academy of Sciences. Charles K. Kao died in Sha Tin, Hong Kong on September 23, 2018.