Honoring Charles K. Kao, Fiber Optic Pioneer
By Lisa Youngers, Executive Director
The Fiber Broadband Association is saddened to hear of the passing of Dr. Charles Kuen Kao, a Nobel laureate in physics, who revolutionized the transmission of data and laid the foundation for communication around the world.
As early as the 1960s, Dr. Kao saw the potential of fiber optic cables to transmit information across great distances. He and a colleague, British engineer George Alfred Hockman, worked to remove impurities from the glass, which allowed for the extension of cable lengths from just 65 feet to over half a mile long. Dr. Kao lived to see his insight put into practice, as today millions of fiber optic cables span oceans and connect continents.
In 2009, Dr. Kao was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics; he shared the prize with Willard S. Boyle and George E. Smith, who invented the charge-coupled device, a semiconductor sensor that enables digital photography. All three were honored with the same prize because, according to the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, fiber optic cables and digital photography together comprise “the foundation to our modern information society.” Dr. Kao was also knighted in 2010 and given an honorary degree from Princeton, as well as many other awards.
In recognition of Dr. Kao’s invaluable contributions, the fiber industry holds an annual celebration known as “Gimme Fiber Day” on November 4, his birthday. Gimme Fiber Day is celebrated in the U.S. and around the globe. The day honors the achievements of Dr. Kao, who pioneered the use and development of fiber optics in telecommunications, and shows how fiber optics have positively impacted communities around the world and what policymakers can do to accelerate its deployment and adoption.
In recent years, Dr. Kao and his wife established the Charles K. Kao Foundation to help raise public awareness of Alzheimer’s disease, which he suffered from. Our thoughts and condolences are with Dr. Kao’s wife, his two children, and all of the lives he touched.
