Charles K Kao was a famous electrical engineer and physicist who developed and use fiber optics in telecommunications.
Charles K Kao’s Date of Birth and Age
Charles K Kao was born in Shanghai, China on November 4, 1933. He used to celebrate his birthday on the 4thof November every year. The electrical engineer died at the age of 84. Charles left the world on September 23, 2018, in Sha Tin, Hong Kong.
Similarly, Charles used to hold Chinese nationality and belong to the white ethnicity. Talking about his religion, he hasn’t mentioned which religion he follows. Although he was born in China, he was raised and spent most of his life in Hong Kong.
Charles K Kao’s Parents and Siblings
Charles K Kao was the son of Kao Chun-Hsiang (Father) and King Tsing Fong(Mother). Likewise, his father was an alumnus of Michigan Law School, USA, and was a successful Shanghai attorney.
Later, his father became a legal adviser and an instructor in Chinese law in Hong Kong.
There isn’t any information about his mother. He was one of the two surviving kids of his parents. Charles had a younger brother called Timothy. Kao also had two elder siblings, a sister and a brother, who died of measles before he was born.
The two serving kids Charles and Timothy lived a very protected and healthy life because of their sibling’s death. The death of his two siblings traumatizes him in a good way to live a healthy life. At first, they started their education at home under home tutors.
Around 1943, Charles K. Kao started his formal education at the elite Shanghai World School.
Even though China was under Japanese occupation since 1937, they were not that affected by the war, having their home inside Shanghai French Concession.
The Second World War too had very less impact on their life. After the advent of the Red Army in 1948, the family decided to leave Shanghai.
Later, the family reside in Hong Kong in 1948. Likewise, Kao was then enrolled at St. Joseph’s College. Charles got straight A’s in the school matriculation examinations. He was always an excellent student.
Charles in 1953, moved to England, where he enrolled at Woolwich Polytechnic, London. Kao went on to enter an engineering course at the same institute after passing his A-level. Charles graduated from there with a B.Sc. in Electrical Engineering in 1957.
Charles K Kao’s Career
Charles K Kao was a famous electrical engineer and physicist who developed and use fiber optics in telecommunications.
Similarly, The electrical engineer created various methods to combine glass fibers with lasers in order to transmit digital data, which led to the groundwork for the evolution of the Internet. He was raised in Hong Kong at the time when the British used to rule.
Meanwhile, he moved to England where he studied Electrical Engineering. Later, he joined Standard Telephones & Cables. Kao was moved to STC’s research laboratory, where his task was to investigate to reduce the force of fiber.
In a very short period of time, Charles found that light loss in fibers was caused by impurities in them.
Within a very short time, he developed various techniques to merge glass fibers with lasers so that digital data could be transmitted without much loss. Kao was a very talented and skilled person.
Likewise, In 1970, the first practical fiber-optic cable was successfully produced. Also in the same year, Charles K. Kao took two years to break from STL and later joined the faculty of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, helping it to set up its electronics department.
Charles has received a number of awards and honors for his work.
Charles K Kao’s Wife
Charles K. Kao married Wong May-wan in 1959. His wife was a fellow engineer at Standard Telephones & Cables. The couple had two children, a son called Simon, born in 1961, and a daughter called Amanda, born in 1963.
Unfortunately, Kao was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in 2004. Charles along with his wife founded the Charles K. Kao Foundation for Alzheimer’s Disease Limited, in order to promote awareness about the disease in 2010.