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Charles K. Kao. Photo By David Dobkin –

Top 10 Unbelievable Facts About Charles K. Kao 

鈥淚deas do not always come in a flash but by diligent trial-and-error experiments that take time and thought.鈥� – Charles K. Kao 

Charles Kao was a famous electrical engineer and physicist who developed the use of fiber optics in telecommunications.  

This physicist was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics in 2009 for his discovery of how light can be transmitted through fiber-optic cables. 

He shared the award with Canadian physicist Willard S. Boyle and American scientist George E. Smith. Together, they invented the charge-coupled device to convert optical information to an electrical signal.  

Here are exciting things to know about Charles K. Kao. 

1. Kao Was Home-schooled Until He Was 10 Years 

Kao was born on 4th November 1933 in Shanghai, China. His family later moved to Hong Kong at 15 years old. Later in life, he became a citizen of the United Kingdom and the United States.  

His father and mother were known as Kao Chun-Hsiang and King Tsing Fong. Kao鈥檚 father studied law at Michigan Law School and was appointed to sit as the Chinese judge in the Court for International Law. His mother was well educated as well and was a poet. 

His parents had two children before his birth, a girl and a boy. These two elder siblings died tragically of a measles outbreak at 10 and 8 years. After several miscarriages, Kao and his brother were born and lived in a very pampered and protected family with nursemaids constantly watching them.  

This was because of the trauma his parents suffered after the death of their children. Tutors taught him and his brother until Kao reached ten years when he was sent to school for the first time.    

2. He Married an Engineer 

Charles K. Kao and his wife Gwen May-Wan Kao. Photo By David Dobkin –

After graduation, Kao met his British-Chinese wife, Gwen May-Wan Kao, in London. They both worked together as engineers at the Standard Telephones and Cables.  

He married Gwen in 1959 in London and was blessed with two children, a daughter, and a son. His children live in Silicon Valley, California.  

His wife Gwen was his constant companion until his death. Kao鈥檚 biography indicates that he was a catholic who attended the catholic church while his wife Gwen attended Anglican communion. 

3. He Came From a Learned Family Lineage

Kao鈥檚 grandfather was a literary man, famous for his beautiful poems, which he would render in Chinese calligraphy. The combination of poetry with calligraphy is an art form in its own right. He was also the leader of the South Society during the late Qing Dynasty.    

Kao鈥檚 father was an accomplished lawyer who later became a professor at Soochow University, Comparative Law School of China.  He was also a Chinese judge.  

Kao studied Chinese classics from his home tutor and English and French at an international school in Shanghai.  

Kao’s younger brother Timothy Wu Kao is a civil engineer professor at the Catholic University of America and a researcher in hydrodynamics.  

Charles Kao鈥檚 wife Gwen May-Wan Kao was an engineer at Standard Telephones and Cables, working with first-generation computers.    

His close relatives, Kao Hs眉, Yao Kuang, and Kao Tseng, were well-known writers, and his father鈥檚 cousin was a famous astrologer.  

4. Kao is the Father of Fiber Optics 

Charles K. Kao giving a lecture in 2003. Photo By C-Ya-gg –

Before moving to London, Kao grew up in Taiwan, where he studied Electrical Engineering in 1960.  

Charles worked at the standard telecommunication laboratory, the research center of standard telephones and cables in Harlow, London.   

In the 1930s, the thin fibers of glass used were considered unsuitable for long-distance information transfer. This is because there was a lot of light loss along the way.  

In 1966, Kao presented a solution by creating fibers of very pure glass to transport sufficient light together with laser technology to transmit digital data, which laid the groundwork for the evolution of the internet.    

Due to this, Charles Kao is known as the 鈥済odfather of broadband鈥� and the 鈥渇ather of fiber optics communication.鈥�    

5. His Nobel Prize Paid for His Medical Expenses 

Kao was diagnosed as having Alzheimer’s disease and he and his wife May moved to California to live closer to their children.  

After Kao received the Nobel Prize, the prize money awarded was used for his medical expenses. It was probably the first time the award was used for such a reason. 

6. He Won Multiple Awards 

Apart from the Nobel prize, Kao received other awards and recognition over the years. In 2010, he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II for his contribution to fiber-optic communications, and a stamp was issued by Hong Kong honoring him. 

Previously he had been awarded the Faraday Medal in 1989 and before that the Alexander Graham Bell and the Marconi Medal both in 1985. 

7. There are Places Named in His Honor 

Hong Kong Science Park Charles K. Kao Auditorium  that was named in his honour. Photo By Wing1990hk –

There are places named in his honor, like the north wing of the Chinese University of Hong Kong Science Center was named the Charles Kuen Kao Building on 7th November 1996. 

Others are the landmark auditorium in the Hong Kong Science Park, Sir Charles Kao UTC now known as BMAT STEM Academy, and Professor Charles Kao Square which is a square of the Independent Schools Foundation Academy among others. 

8. He Has Attained Several Honorary Degrees 

Throughout his career, Kao attained various honorary degrees and titles from various leading universities such as Doctor of Science from Yale University and Princeton University both in the United States in 1999 and 2004 respectively. 

Other universities that gave him the Doctor of Science degree are the Chinese University of Hong Kong in British Hong Kong in 1985, the University of Hull, and the University of Sussex in the U.K. in 1998 and 1990 among others. 

He was also an Honorary Professor, Academician, and Doctor of Engineering plus he had an Honorary Doctorate of Science among other titles and degrees. 

9. He Co-founded an Alzheimer鈥檚 Disease Foundation

There is a Charles K. Kao Foundation for Alzheimer鈥檚 Disease. The registered non-profit making charity organization was founded in 2010 by the late Professor Charles K. Kao and his wife, Mrs. Gwen Kao.   

The foundation aims to raise public awareness of Alzheimer鈥檚 disease and educate the general public on brain health care strategies. It also enhances support for Alzheimer鈥檚 patients plus their families and caregivers.  

10. He Died at 84 Years 

Charles K. Kao Photo By David Dobkin –

Kao lost his ability to maintain his balance in 2016. In the last stages of dementia, his wife cared for him, and he intended not to be kept alive with life support or have CPR performed on him. 

Kao died at Bradbury Hospice in Hong Kong on 23rd September 2018. He was 84 years old at the time.