<p>The Honorable Sir Charles Kuen Kao, GBM, KBE, FRS, FREng (born 4 November 1933) is a pioneer in the development and use of fiber optics in telecommunications. Kao, known as the "Godfather of Broadband", "Father of Fiber Optics" or "Father of Fiber Optic Communications", was awarded half of the 2009 Nobel Prize in Physics for "groundbreaking achievements concerning the transmission of light in fibers for optical communication".
Kao was born in Shanghai in 1933, but his ancestral home is in Jinshan, Jiangsu adjoining Shanghai. He studied Chinese classics at home with his brother, under a tutor. He also studied English and French at an international school in Shanghai which was founded by a number of progressive Chinese educators including Cai Yuanpei.
Kao's family moved to Hong Kong in 1948 where he completed his secondary education (advanced level) at St. Joseph's College in 1952. He did his undergraduate studies in electrical engineering at Woolwich Polytechnic (now the University of Greenwich), obtaining his Bachelor of Science degree.
He then pursued research and received his PhD degree in electrical engineering in 1965 from University College London (under Professor Harold</p>