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Born | |
Died | September 23, 2018 | (aged 84)
Citizenship | United States United Kingdom[1] Hong Kong[2] |
Alma mater | University College London (PhD 1965, issued by University of London) Woolwich Polytechnic (BSc 1957, issued by University of London) |
Known for | Fiber optics Fiber-optic communication |
Scientific career | |
Fields | Physics |
Institutions | The Chinese University of Hong Kong ITT Corporation Standard Telephones and Cables |
Doctoral advisor | Harold Barlow |
The Honorable Sir Charles Kuen Kao, GBM,[3] KBE,[4] FRS,[5] FREng[6] (November 4, 1933 – September 23, 2018) was a Chinese-born American and British electrical engineer and physicist.
He helped discover the development and use of fiber optics in telecommunications. Kao was awarded the 2009 Nobel Prize in Physics for "groundbreaking achievements concerning the transmission of light in fibers for optical communication".[7] Kao holds dual citizenship of the United Kingdom and the United States.[8] Kao is known as the "Godfather of Broadband".[8]
Kao was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease in 2002 and had speech difficulty.[9] He died on September 23, 2018 from complications of the disease in Sha Tin, Hong Kong at the age of 84.[10]