Nobel Laureate’s Life Achievement

The year 2009 was a milestone in the life of Charles Kuen Kao (Gao Kun in Chinese pronunciation). In October， Charles Kuen Kao， a scientist of world renown with his ancestral roots in China， won the Nobel Prize in Physics for his groundbreaking achievements concerning the transmission of light in fibers for optical communication. The year 2009 also marked the 50th anniversary of his marriage with May-Wan Wong. In an interview， Kao confessed that his most important lifelong achievement was his romance with his wife.

Kao was born in December， 1933， in the French Concessions in Shanghai， China. His father was a prominent lawyer in Shanghai. As a boy， the junior developed a passion for chemistry. The vacant third floor of the house where his family took residence became his laboratory. One day， he followed instructions of a chemistry book and mixed two chemicals into an explosive. The young chemist later threw his tiny bombs into the street. They exploded. Fortunately， the street was empty.

Chemistry was not the fledgling scientist’s only pursuit. The wizard boy later discovered the charms of electronics. After careful studies， he successfully assembled a radio of five vacuum tubes.

The family later migrated to Hong Kong. Charles Kao was enrolled by a Hong Kong University， but decided to study electromechanical engineering in Britain. It was his student years in London that Kao ran into his future wife May-Wan Wong， a girl with Chinese origin.

One day， Kao Kun bought two theater tickets. They had their first date. After the theater was over， Kao walked Wong home. Highly nervous， he talked about his childhood years in China and his student years in Hong Kong and his pursuit in life. Wong listened attentively but did not commit herself. Kao made the last minute effort when they almost reached the girl’s home. Kao said he would like to have more dates and go steady with her.

Previously noticing the young man’s burning love for her， Wong however hesitated and then said. “You study science and know truth comes out of experiments. Let’s have an experiment. Form now on， we don’t see each other for half a year. If you still miss me at the end of six months， then it means what you say now is true. Let’s have dates then.”

Kao was flabbergasted. This was more than he had expected. He said excitedly. “I disagree. If you have no confidence about us now， then you wouldn’t have confidence in half a year. Trust me. I am very confident of our future. I am determined that you are my best half.”

Seeing the girl still didn’t nod yes， Kao said， “Marriage is a promise for a life-long love. Science allows experiments， but I don’t experiment on love. Moreover， such an experiment is pointless.”

Moved by the young man’s frank passion， Wong finally said yes. They decided to go steady. Kao felt he was the happiest man in the world. He was often seen pedaling a bike around the campus with his sweetheart sitting on the back seat. Sometimes they went boating on the Thames River. But most of the time， he worked hard in the lab. After a short while Kao transferred to London University to study electronic engineering.

Kao graduated in 1957 from London University. Kao Kun decided to get a job and stay in England after his graduation. He worked as an engineer. A traditional man， Kao wished to marry Wong as soon as possible. Wong had graduated， but her family did not agree to the marriage. They planned to send Wong to America for further studies. During these days， Huang’s mother lived with Huang. Wong said she agreed to reconsider her future with Kao. Her parents believed her.

One day in October， 1957， Wong said she would attend a birthday party of a classmate. That day， they eloped. May-Wan Wong moved into Kao’s apartment. Upset， Wong’s parents refused to meet their son-in-law for a long time. But they changed their minds after seeing their son-in-law was a diligent and hard-working scientist.

Shortly after their marriage， Kao was transferred to do research work for the Bell Laboratory and Wong was also recruited as a programmer in the same laboratory.

In 1958， they had a son. A year later they had a girl. As the couple did not earn enough to have a nurse， Wong quit her job and became a homemaker.

Around this time， Charles Kao had started his research into optical fiber， spending day and night at the lab and leaving all the house chores and baby-sitting to his wife. What was more， he often forgot to come home for evening meals. Wong complained. Kao Kun knew he was to blame for his wife’s unhappiness. One day he asked his wife to stop nagging him， for he was making a big thing for the future.

Wong understood him and helped him. From then on， Wong did her best to help her husband. As a computer expert， she wrote programs to do complicated math problems. They spent their fifth anniversary day in the lab.

In 1966， he put forward his bold idea of replacing the copper wire with fiber glass as an ideal telecommunications medium.

With support form Bell Labs and his wife， Kao made progress over years. He at last found a substance that could be made into pure medium. He published more than 100 papers on the subject and had 30 patents. In 1981， a technological breakthrough was made， launching a worldwide revolution for fiber telecommunications.

Charles Kao won top honors for his achievements in the field. Notable awards include IEEE Morris N. Liebmann Memorial Award (1978)， IEEE Alexander Graham Bell Medal (1985)， Marconi Prize (1985)， Faraday Medal (1989)， James C. McGroddy Prize for New Materials (1989)， Prince Philip Medal (1996)， Japan Prize (1996)， Charles Stark Draper Prize (1999)， and Asian of the Century (1999). In 1996， an asteroid was named after him by Zijinshan Observatory under the China Academy of Sciences.□