Google Doodle celebrates Chinese physicist Charles Kao Kuen, father of fibre optics, on what would have been his 88th birthday

The animated Doodle shows physicist Charles Kao Kuen operating a green fibre laser to send data from one end of the Doodle to the other

Kao, called the father of fibre optics, won a joint Nobel Prize in Physics in 2009 and was vice-chancellor of the Chinese University of Hong Kong from 1987

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Google celebrates what would have been the 88th birthday of Charles Kao Kuen – “the father of fibre optics” – with a Doodle. Photo: Google

Published: 10:52am, 4 Nov 2021Updated: 5:44pm, 4 Nov 2021

He was called the father of fibre optics, and on November 4, Google Doodle celebrates what would have been the 88th birthday of Charles Kao Kuen.

Born in Shanghai in 1933, Kao left the Chinese city with his family when he was 14. They moved to Hong Kong in 1948.

He won a joint Nobel Prize in Physics in 2009, the Faraday Medal in 1989 and the Alexander Graham Bell Medal in 1985.

As well as being a trailblazing researcher, he was also a dedicated educator.

Kao’s landmark research in the 1960s earned him a joint Nobel Prize in Physics in 2009. Photo: SCMP

“Beginning in 1987, he spent nearly a decade as Vice-Chancellor of the Chinese University of Hong Kong and founded Hong Kong’s Independent Schools Foundation,” the Google tribute says.

“Kao’s landmark research in the 1960s earned him a joint Nobel Prize in Physics in 2009 and cleared the path for the over 900 million miles of fibre-optic cables that carry massive quantities of data across the globe today,” it said.

Beginning in 1987, Kao spent nearly a decade as Vice-Chancellor of the Chinese University of Hong Kong and founded Hong Kong’s Independent Schools Foundation. Photo: Edward Wong

The animated Doodle shows Kao operating a green fibre laser to send data from one end of the Doodle to the other.