生平 https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E9%AB%98%E9%8C%95

童年

幼時一家住在上海法租界一棟三層高的房子，直至中學一年級。入學前，父親聘請老師回家，教導高錕和高鋙誦讀四書五經，高錕十歲時入讀上海世界學校，在上海完成小學與初中一年級課程，除接受中文教育以外，同時也學習英文和法文。他通習吳語、粵語、普通話、英語、法語。

童年的高錕對化學十分感興趣，曾經自製氯氣，製造滅火筒、煙火和相紙；最危險的一次是混合紅磷粉與氯酸鉀，加上水並調成糊狀，再摻入泥裡，搓成泥炸彈並扔到街上引爆。後來他又迷上了無線電，成功地裝了一部有五六個真空管的收音機。

1949年在逃港潮移民英屬香港。入讀聖若瑟書院，就讀中學四年級，高中畢業後，因香港大學沒有電機工程學系，赴英國重讀高中伍利奇理工學院（現為格林威治大學），於1957年取得英國倫敦大學學院電子工程理學學士學位，後於1965年，任職國際電話電報公司時取得倫敦大學學院電機工程學哲學博士學位。

婚姻

高錕夫人黃美芸是在英國出生的華人，家中排行第三，有一兄一姊，十二歲喪父，經常被重男輕女的母親責罵。黃美芸取得獎學金入讀大學，大學畢業後到國際電話電報公司研究室工作，在電報公司邂逅高錕。兩人相愛，但因黃美芸的兄長未結婚，所以黃美芸的母親不答應她和高錕結婚。黃美芸最後不理母親反對和高錕結婚。兩人於1959年結婚，育有長子明漳、次女明淇，現時皆在美國矽谷生活和工作。

職業生涯

1957年，高錕進入國際電話電報公司（ITT），在旗下一英國子公司標準電話與電纜公司任工程師。

1960年，他進入ITT設於英國的歐洲中央研究機構——標準電信實驗有限公司，在那裡服務了十年，其職位從研究科學家升至研究經理。其間於1965年取得倫敦大學學院的電機工程哲學博士學位。

1966年在美國電信企業ITT的英國標準電信實驗室任工程師時做出劃時代的實驗，證明用石英基玻璃纖維可長距離傳遞信息，打破玻璃纖維在早期只能短距離傳信的理論難題。

高錕在ITT時期，鑽研利用玻璃纖維進行信號傳送，並將實驗成果，發表多篇論文在世界各地，其中在1966年發表的《光頻率介質纖維表面波導》論文中指出：用石英基玻璃纖維進行長距離信息傳遞，將帶來一場通訊事業的革命，並提出當玻璃纖維衰減率（Attenuation）下降到每公里20分貝時，光纖通訊即可成功。他的研究為人類進入光導新紀元打開了大門，並為此獲得2009年諾貝爾物理學獎以及愛迪生電信獎、馬可尼國際獎、貝爾獎、巴倫坦獎章、利布曼獎等。

高錕於1970年應香港中文大學邀請籌辦電子系現稱電子工程學系），擔任香港中文大學電子系教授及講座教授，任職四年。1974年又返回ITT公司，在位於美國維吉尼亞州勞諾克的光電產品部擔任主任科學家，後擢升為工程主任。982年，因卓越的研究與管理才能而獲任命為首位「ITT執行科學家」，在康乃狄克州的先進技術中心工作。[

1987年至1996年，高錕出任香港中文大學第三任校長，並在1989年創立訊息工程學系（及後於1991年併入工程學院，而高氏有份參與建立）。於其任內，適逢香港政府打算將建築學教育的撥款增加一倍，他亦接納了著名建築學者黎錦超教授的建議書，於1991年設立建築學系（2009年起改稱建築學院）。而他一直工作至2009年正式退休，同年當選為中國科學院院士。1997年返港成立「高科橋公司」提供科技顧問服務，同時擔任香港特區政府科技創新委員會委員，後於2000年在大埔工業村投資成立「高科橋光纖有限公司」，生產光纖，後於2003年易主更名「高科橋光通信有限公司」

中國科學院紫金山天文台於1996年宣佈命名一顆新發現的小行星為「高錕星」（國際編號3463），以表揚他在科學上所做的傑出貢獻。

諾貝爾獎

2009年獲頒諾貝爾物理學獎，獎項算在英國標準電信實驗室和香港中文大學名下，這是歷史上第一次香港的研究機構列名於諾貝爾獎名單。其夫人黃美芸代筆的公開信自言「在香港就讀高中、也曾在中大執教鞭、當校長，並在這裏退休，在香港生活逾三十載，是個名副其實的香港人。」。他亦有英國、美國雙重國籍和香港永久居留權。

2009年12月8日，高錕的演說《古沙遞捷音》由夫人和中大4名教授按照《潮平岸闊》內容代筆，夫人代為發表。

12月10日，瑞典皇家科學院向高錕頒授諾貝爾物理學獎。高錕在諾貝爾典禮上獲特別安排，免除走到台中領獎、鞠躬三次的禮儀，瑞典國王卡爾十六世·古斯塔夫破例走到他面前頒獎。

晚年生活

高錕在2002年或之前完成英文自傳《A Time and a Tide》，許迪鏘翻譯的中文譯本《潮平岸闊——高錕自述》於2005年出版。

2004年初，高錕證實罹患早期阿茲海默病，接受治療。為了協助阿茲海默症患者和家屬，高錕及夫人黃美芸在2010年9月21日成立高錕慈善基金，期望增加大眾對病症的認知以及對患者的關懷，其夫人黃美芸接受香港《明報》採訪時指高錕「老人家記性差」，時而忘記鎖匙或書本放在哪裡，不過病情輕微，認人、認路均沒有問題。

高錕退休後常於香港和美國加州山景城兩地居住。

逝世

2018年9月23日早上11時45分，高錕於香港沙田區白普理寧養中心離世，享壽84歲。香港各界均一致表達哀悼，香港中文大學和高錕慈善基金分別在校園和灣仔溫莎公爵大廈設弔唁區。

Early life and education https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_K._Kao

Charles Kao was born in Shanghai in 1933,^[20]: 1 at that time a separate administrative area.^[21][22] He studied Chinese classics at home with his brother, under a tutor.^{[23][20]: 41} He also studied English and French at the Shanghai World School (上海世界學校) in the Shanghai French Concession^[24] that was founded by a number of progressive Chinese educators, including Cai Yuanpei.^[25]

Kao's family moved to Taiwan and then British Hong Kong in 1948^{[20]: 1 [26]} where he completed his secondary education (Hong Kong School Certificate Examination, a predecessor of HKCEE^[27])^[28] at St. Joseph's College in 1952. He did his undergraduate studies in electrical engineering at Woolwich Polytechnic (now the University of Greenwich),^[29] obtaining his Bachelor of Engineering degree.^{[20]: 1 [30][non-primary source needed]}

He then pursued research and received his PhD in electrical engineering in 1965 from University of London, under Professor Harold Barlow of University College London as an external student while working at Standard Telecommunication Laboratories (STL) in Harlow, England, the research center of Standard Telephones and Cables.^[2] It is there that Kao did his first groundbreaking work as an engineer and researcher working alongside George Hockham under the supervision of Alec Reeves.^{[citation needed]}

Ancestry and family[edit]

Kao's father Kao Chun-Hsiang [zh] (高君湘)^[20]: 13 was a lawyer who obtained his Juris Doctor from the University of Michigan Law School in 1925.^[31] He was a professor at Soochow University (then in Shanghai) Comparative Law School of China.^[32][33]

His grandfather Kao Hsieh was a scholar, poet, artist,^[23] and a leading figure of the South Society during the late Qing Dynasty.^[34] Several writers including Kao Hsü, Yao Kuang [zh] (姚光), and Kao Tseng [zh] (高增) were also Kao's close relatives.^{[citation needed]}

His father's cousin was astronomer Kao Ping-tse^[23][35] (Kao crater is named after him^[36]). Kao's younger brother Timothy Wu Kao (高鋙) is a civil engineer and Professor Emeritus at the Catholic University of America. His research is in hydrodynamics.^[37]

Kao met his future wife Gwen May-Wan Kao (née Wong; 黃美芸) in London after graduation, when they worked together as engineers at Standard Telephones and Cables.^{[20]: 23 [38][unreliable source?]} She is British Chinese.^[20]: 17 They were married in 1959 in London,^{[20]: 15–17 [39]} and had a son and a daughter,^[39] both of whom reside and work in Silicon Valley, California.^{[11][38][40][unreliable source?]} According to Kao's autobiography, Kao was a Catholic who attended Catholic Church while his wife attended Anglican Communion.^{[20]: 14–15}

Academic career

Fiber optics and communications

A bundle of silica glass fibers for optical communication, which are the de facto worldwide standard. Kao also first publicly suggested that silica glass of high purity is an ideal material for long range optical communication.^[41]

In the 1960s at Standard Telecommunication Laboratories (STL) based in Harlow, Essex, England, Kao and his coworkers did their pioneering work in creating fiber optics as a telecommunications medium, by demonstrating that the high-loss of existing fiber optics arose from impurities in the glass, rather than from an underlying problem with the technology itself.^[42]

In 1963, when Kao first joined the optical communications research team he made notes summarising the background^[43] situation and available technology at the time, and identifying the key individuals^[43] involved. Initially Kao worked in the team of Antoni E. Karbowiak (Toni Karbowiak), who was working under Alec Reeves to study optical waveguides for communications. Kao's task was to investigate fiber attenuation, for which he collected samples from different fiber manufacturers and also investigated the properties of bulk glasses carefully. Kao's study primarily convinced him that the impurities in material caused the high light losses of those fibers.^[44] Later that year, Kao was appointed head of the electro-optics research group at STL.^[45] He took over the optical communication program of STL in December 1964, because his supervisor, Karbowiak, left to take the Chair in Communications in the School of Electrical Engineering at the University of New South Wales (UNSW), Sydney, Australia.^[46]

Although Kao succeeded Karbowiak as manager of optical communications research, he immediately decided to abandon Karbowiak's plan (thin-film waveguide) and overall change research direction with his colleague George Hockham.^[44][46] They not only considered optical physics but also the material properties. The results were first presented by Kao to the IEE in January 1966 in London, and further published in July with George Hockham (1964–1965 worked with Kao).^[47][a] This study first theorized and proposed to use glass fibers to implement optical communication, the ideas (especially structural features and materials) described are largely the basis of today's optical fiber communications.^{[citation needed]}

"What Kao did in Harlow transformed the world and provided a backbone for the internet. He was the father of fiber optics."

—Harlow Museum's David Devine on Kao's pioneering work in fiber optics at STC's Standard Telecommunication Laboratories in Harlow^[48]

In 1965,^[45][49][b] Kao with Hockham concluded that the fundamental limitation for glass light attenuation is below 20 dB/km (decibels per kilometer, is a measure of the attenuation of a signal over a distance), which is a key threshold value for optical communications.^[50] However, at the time of this determination, optical fibers commonly exhibited light loss as high as 1,000 dB/km and even more. This conclusion opened the intense race to find low-loss materials and suitable fibres for reaching such criteria.^{[citation needed]}

Kao, together with his new team (members including T. W. Davies, M. W. Jones, and C. R. Wright), pursued this goal by testing various materials. They precisely measured the attenuation of light with different wavelengths in glasses and other materials. During this period, Kao pointed out that the high purity of fused silica (SiO₂) made it an ideal candidate for optical communication. Kao also stated that the impurity of glass material is the main cause for the dramatic decay of light transmission inside glass fiber, rather than fundamental physical effects such as scattering as many physicists thought at that time, and such impurity could be removed. This led to a worldwide study and production of high-purity glass fibers.^[51] When Kao first proposed that such glass fiber could be used for long-distance information transfer and could replace copper wires which were used for telecommunication during that era, his ideas were widely disbelieved; later people realized that Kao's ideas revolutionized the whole communication technology and industry.^[52]

He also played a leading role in the early stage of engineering and commercial realization of optical communication.^[53] In spring 1966, Kao traveled to the U.S. but failed to interest Bell Labs, which was a competitor of STL in communication technology at that time.^[54] He subsequently traveled to Japan and gained support.^[54] Kao visited many glass and polymer factories, discussed with various people including engineers, scientists, businessmen about the techniques and improvement of glass fiber manufacture. In 1969, Kao with M. W. Jones measured the intrinsic loss of bulk-fused silica at 4 dB/km, which is the first evidence of ultra-transparent glass. Bell Labs started considering fiber optics seriously.^[54] As of 2017, fiber optic losses (from both bulk and intrinsic sources) are as low as 0.1419 dB/km at the 1.56 µm wavelength.^[55]

Kao developed important techniques and configurations for glass fiber waveguides, and contributed to the development of different fiber types and system devices which met both civil and military^[c] application requirements, and peripheral supporting systems for optical fiber communication.^[53] In mid-1970s, he did seminal work on glass fiber fatigue strength.^[53] When named the first ITT Executive Scientist, Kao launched the "Terabit Technology" program in addressing the high frequency limits of signal processing, so Kao is also known as the "father of the terabit technology concept".^[53][56] Kao has published more than 100 papers and was granted over 30 patents,^[53] including the water-resistant high-strength fibers (with M. S. Maklad).^[57]

At an early stage of developing optic fibers, Kao already strongly preferred single-mode for long-distance optical communication, instead of using multi-mode systems. His vision later was followed and now is applied almost exclusively.^[51][58] Kao was also a visionary of modern submarine communications cables and largely promoted this idea. He predicted in 1983 that world's seas would be littered with fiber optics, five years ahead of the time that such a trans-oceanic fiber-optic cable first became serviceable.^[59]

Ali Javan's introduction of a steady helium–neon laser and Kao's discovery of fiber light-loss properties now are recognized as the two essential milestones for the development of fiber-optic communications.^[46]

Later work[edit]

Kao joined the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) in 1970 to found the Department of Electronics, which later became the Department of Electronic Engineering. During this period, Kao was the reader and then the chair Professor of Electronics at CUHK; he built up both undergraduate and graduate study programs of electronics and oversaw the graduation of his first students. Under his leadership, the School of Education and other new research institutes were established. He returned to ITT Corporation in 1974 (the parent corporation of STC at that time) in the United States and worked in Roanoke, Virginia, first as Chief Scientist and later as Director of Engineering. In 1982, he became the first ITT Executive Scientist and was stationed mainly at the Advanced Technology Center in Connecticut.^[15] While there, he served as an adjunct professor and Fellow of Trumbull College at Yale University. In 1985, Kao spent one year in West Germany, at the SEL Research Center. In 1986, Kao was the Corporate Director of Research at ITT.

He was one of the earliest to study the environmental effects of land reclamation in Hong Kong, and presented one of his first related studies at the conference of the Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU) in Edinburgh in 1972.^[60]

Kao was the vice-chancellor of the Chinese University of Hong Kong from 1987 to 1996.^[61] From 1991, Kao was an Independent Non-Executive Director and a member of the Audit Committee of the Varitronix International Limited in Hong Kong.^[62][63] From 1993 to 1994, he was the President of the Association of Southeast Asian Institutions of Higher Learning (ASAIHL).^[64] In 1996, Kao donated to Yale University, and the Charles Kao Fund Research Grants was established to support Yale's studies, research and creative projects in Asia.^[65] The fund currently is managed by Yale University Councils on East Asian and Southeast Asian Studies.^[66] After his retirement from CUHK in 1996, Kao spent his six-month sabbatical leave at the Imperial College London Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering; from 1997 to 2002, he also served as visiting professor in the same department.^[67]

Kao was chairman and member of the Energy Advisory Committee (EAC) of Hong Kong for two years, and retired from the position on July 15, 2000.^[68][69] Kao was a Member of the Council of Advisors on Innovation and Technology of Hong Kong, appointed on April 20, 2000.^[70] In 2000, Kao co-founded the Independent Schools Foundation Academy, which is located in Cyberport, Hong Kong.^[71] He was its founding Chairman in 2000, and stepped down from the Board of the ISF in December 2008.^[71] Kao was the keynote speaker at IEEE GLOBECOM 2002 in Taipei, Taiwan.^[72] In 2003, Kao was named a Chair Professor by special appointment at the Electronics Institute of the College of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, National Taiwan University.^[72] Kao then worked as the chairman and CEO of Transtech Services Ltd., a telecommunication consultancy in Hong Kong. He was the founder, chairman and CEO of ITX Services Limited. From 2003 to January 30, 2009, Kao was an independent non-executive director and member of the audit committee of Next Media.^[73][74]