Charles Kuen Kao

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Charles Kuen Kao (2004)

Sir Charles Kuen Kao , GBM , KBE , FRS , FREng , ( Chinese  高 錕  /  高 锟 , Pinyin Gāo Kūn , W.-G. Kao K'un , Jyutping Gou 1 Kwan 1 ; *  November 4, 1933 in Shanghai ; † September 23, 2018 in Sha Tin , Hong Kong ) was an American - British physicist of Chinese origin. He was a pioneer in the field of fiber optics , for which he was honored with the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2009 .

Career

He studied in England and graduated with excellent results. In 1965 he received his Ph. D. from Imperial College London . Kao then went to the Standard Telecommunication Laboratories of ITT in Harlow (Essex) , where he became Director of Engineering and did research on optical communications using infrared . There he worked with George Hockham in the field of telecommunications via fiber optics , where he was the first to transmit light signals as data over a glass conductor . Kao found that the high loss of information is not due to electronic problems, but rather to contamination in the glass fibers. In 1966 he suggested fiber optics as a suitable transmission medium, if it was possible to reduce the losses from 1000 dB / km to 20 dB / km. In the fall of 1970, Corning Glass Works broke this limit with 17 dB / km.

Kao later became Vice-Chancellor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong . In 1996 he retired.

Awards and honors

On October 6, 2009, along with Willard Boyle and George E. Smith , he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences “for his breakthrough achievements in the field of light transmission using fiber optics for optical communication”.

In 2010 he was raised to the British nobility as Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire .

On May 3, 1996 the asteroid (3463) Kaokuen was named after him.

swell

literature

Web links

Commons : Charles K. Kao  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Nobel Prize winner and Hong Kong native Charles Kao dies, 84. In: South China Morning Post . September 24, 2018, accessed September 24, 2018 .
  2. ↑ The Nobel Prize in Physics 2009. Press release from the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences , October 6, 2009, accessed September 24, 2018 .
  3. ^ CK Kao, GA Hockham: Dielectric-fiber surface waveguides for optical frequencies. In: Proceedings of the IEEE 113, 1966, pp. 1151-1158.
  4. ↑ The London Gazette : No. 59446 (Supplement), p. 23 , June 12, 2010.
  5. ^ Brian G. Marsden, Gareth V. Williams, Syuichi Nakano: Minor Planet Circ. 27125. (pdf, 1.6 MB) Minor Planet Center , May 3, 1996, p. 179 , accessed on September 24, 2018 .
personal data
SURNAME Kao, Charles Kuen
ALTERNATIVE NAMES 高 錕 (Chinese)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Chinese physicist, 2009 Nobel Prize Winner in Physics
DATE OF BIRTH November 4, 1933
PLACE OF BIRTH Shanghai
DATE OF DEATH 23rd September 2018
Place of death Hong Kong