The 2009 Nobel Prize in Physics

News from Hong Kong Standard - Nobel wife tells of Kao persistence

Mary Ann Benitez

Wednesday, December 09, 2009

If it were not for the persistence(Noun 堅持) of Charles Kao Kuen the telecommunications電信 revolution改革 may not have occurred(happened).

Kao, co-winner of the 2009 Nobel Prize in Physics, pioneered the use of fiber optics (光纖)in telephony nearly 50 years ago despite the doubts of others.

This was revealed yesterday by his wife, Gwen Kao Wong May-wan, in a Nobel Week lecture演講 in Sweden.

Kao, 76, a former vice chancellor of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, will receive his award tomorrow at the Stockholm Concert Hall.

Charles Kao, who suffers from Alzheimer's disease, is also in the city with children Simon and Amanda.

In her lecture, Sand From Centuries Past; Send Future Voices Fast, Gwen said it was sad that her husband was unable to give the lecture himself. She said fiber-optic cables have changed the world despite many, in 1960, thinking they were "a non-starter." But Charles was convinced they had potential even though there were many hurdles障礙 to overcome.

Gwen recalled how she and the children would wait for him to come home and get annoyed at the long hours he was putting in. Charles, excited at what he was doing, would say: "It will shake the world one day." To this, his wife would reply: "Really, so you will get the Nobel Prize, won't you?"

Gwen said yesterday: "He was right - it has revolutionized telecommunications."

Charles joined Standard Telecommunications Laboratories, a subsidiary of ITT, at Harlow, near London, in 1960. He was first under the optical waveguide group led by Antoni Karbowiak. When Karbowiak decided to emigrate to Australia, Kao took over as project leader.

"They were all novices in the physics and chemistry of materials and in tackling new electromagnetic wave problems," Gwen said. Her husband zeroed in on glass as a possible material for transmitting data, because it is made of silica - "sand from centuries past that is plentiful and cheap." Finally his team wrote the paper that was to change the world, which was published in the Proceedings of the Institute of Electrical Engineers in July 1966.

Optical communications have since brought about incredible changes in society, including the birth of the internet.

Extracted from:
http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_detail.asp?pp_cat=30&art_id=91660&sid=26356850&con_type=1