Prof. Charles Kao

Prof. Charles Kao

Last Friday, I was at the health center of the Chinese University for some tests when a slight man, dressed simply in a short-sleeved shirt and cotton pants, carrying a cloth bag with the logo of Academia Sinica, walked in. It was Prof. Charles Kao, the former Vice-Chancellor of the Chinese University. He stood patiently for his turn to be tested. Most of the students and staff who walked by did not appear to recognize him.

Prof. Kao was the VC when I joined the Chinese University in 1995. I met him informally only once and formally on a couple of occasions. He genial, unassuming personality was a pleasant change from the typical black-suited bureaucrat of the University. He had a reputation as a soft-spoken, amiable administrator who made no attempt to control meetings and gave a patient hearing to everyone.

This blog entry is not because Prof. Kao was our VC. He is a living legend, better known as the "father of fibre optics". In 2000, Asiaweek magazine chose the 6 Asians of the 20th century who by their life and work contributed most to the betterment of Asia in the previous 100 years. The recipients were Politics and Government Deng Xiaoping (China); Business and Economics Sony founder Morita Akio (Japan); Arts, Literature and Culture Film director Kurosawa Akira (Japan); Science and Technology Charles K. Kao (China/U.S.); Moral and Spiritual Leadership Mohandas K. Gandhi (India) [The Asian of the Century was also Gandhi.] Even at that time, Prof. Kao was the only living recipient of this rare honour.

Asiaweek's citation read:

Charles K. Kao. In 1966, Kao, then working in London, laid out the theoretical basis for the practical use of lasers and glass fibers in communications networks. He further established how to make optical fibers, how to connect them to lasers and how to join lengths together. Today optical fibers carry 80% [this was in 2000] of global long-distance telecommunications traffic, bringing the far corners of the world closer together and accelerating the arrival of the networked future.

In the past century, billions of Asians were born. Among them, just six were chosen to be honored, and one of them walks among us, leading a simple life, largely unrecognized for what he has contributed to our lives. (Think of him everytime you log on to the Internet.) Prof. Kao did not make any money from his invention; the patent went to ITT labs where he conducted his research.

For Asiaweek's feature, go to http://www-cgi.cnn.com/ASIANOW/asiaweek/features/