Bulletin Special Supplement on Prof. Charles K. Kao, Former Vice-Chancellor and Nobel Laureate The Love and Labour of a Laureate

28  Chinese University Bulletin Special Supplement 2010  contemplated. The revolution in optical fiber communication has not ended — it might still just be at the beginning. 7. Conclusion The world-wide communication network based on optical fibers has truly shrunk the world and brought human beings closer together. I hardly need to cite technical figures to drive this point home. The news of the Nobel Prize reached us in the middle of the night at 3 am in California, through a telephone call from Stockholm (then in their morning) no doubt carried on optical fibers; congratulations came literally minutes later from friends in Asia (for whom it was evening), again through messages carried on optical fibers. Too much information is not always a good thing: we had to take the phone off the hook that night in order to get some sleep! Optical communication is by now not just a technical advance, but has also caused major changes in society. The next generation will learn and grow up differently; people will relate to one another in different ways. Manufacturing of all the bits and pieces of a single product can now take place over a dozen locations around the world, providing huge opportunities for people especially in developing countries. The wide accessibility of information has obviously led to more equality and wider participation in public affairs. Many words, indeed many books have been written about the information society, and I do not wish to add to them here — except to say that it is beyond the dreams of the first serious concept of optical communication in 1966, when even 1 GHz was only a hope. How long will fiber last? I’d like to let Charles speak for himself: In conclusion, Charles and I want to thank the Professors at The Chinese University of Hong Kong, namely: Prof. Young, Prof. Wong, Prof. Cheung and Prof. Chen for their support in compiling this lecture for us. Charles would like to thank ITT Corp where he developed his career for 30 years and all those who climbed on to the bandwagon with him in the early days, as without the legions of believers the industry would not have evolved as it did. Charles Kao planted the seed; Bob Maurer watered it and John MacChesney grew its roots. Thank you. 4 é ìsí é äwwssswwå fsdad`adasv çxxsssxxè ê îsï ê r © The Nobel Foundation 2009 This lecture was prepared with the help of Mrs. Gwen Kao, Lian-kuan Chen, Kwok-wai Cheung, Melody Lee, Wing-shing Wong and Kenneth Young. The poetic title of the lecture was created by Mrs. Gwen Kao. A formal version of the lecture will appear in the Nobel yearbook Les Prix Nobel to be published later.