Father of Optical Fiber
Fiber optic cable is one of the most important inventions of this century. Optical fiber cables use glass as the medium instead of copper, so that an optical fiber as thin as a hair can transmit the same amount of information as a copper "wire" as thick as a dinner table. It completely changed the mode of human communication, laid the foundation for the current information highway, and made the fantasy of "using a single telephone line to transmit a set of movies" a reality. The inventor of optical fiber cable is the Chinese scientist Gao Kun, known as the "Father of Optical Fiber".
Gao Kun was born in Shanghai in 1933. His father was a lawyer and his family lived in the then French Concession. He spent his elementary school years in Shanghai. As a child, Kao Kun was most interested in chemistry. He once made his own fire extinguishers, fireworks, and photo paper. The most dangerous one was making a homemade bomb. Later, he became obsessed with radio. At a young age, he successfully installed a radio with five or six vacuum tubes.
In 1948, their family moved to Hong Kong. Kao Kun first attended St. Joseph's College and later was admitted to the University of Hong Kong. But at that time, Kao Kun had already determined to study electrical engineering, and the University of Hong Kong did not offer this major, so he transferred to the University of London. After graduation, he joined the British International Telephone and Telegraph Company ITT as an engineer. Due to his outstanding performance, he was hired as a researcher in the research laboratory. At the same time, he studied for a doctorate from the University of London, graduating in 1967.
In 1966, Kao Kun proposed the bold idea of ??using glass to replace copper wires: using the clear and transparent properties of glass to use light to transmit signals. His starting point at that time was to improve the traditional communication system so that it could transmit more information and faster. Many people find this idea unbelievable and even think that Gao Kun has a mental problem. However, Gao Kun fully demonstrated the feasibility of optical fiber through theoretical research. However, he also struggled to find that kind of "glass without impurities." To this end, he went to many glass factories, including Bell Laboratories in the United States, Japan and Germany, to discuss glass manufacturing methods with people. During that time, he was ridiculed by many people, saying that there was no glass without impurities in the world. But Gao Kun's confidence did not waver at all. He said: All scientists should be stubborn and feel that they are right, otherwise they will not succeed.
Later, he invented quartz glass and created the world's first optical fiber, which shocked the scientific community.
Kao Kun's invention led to the rapid development of the information highway around the world, which he did not expect. As a result, he gained great worldwide reputation and was dubbed the "Father of Optical Fiber". The president of Yale University in the United States said at the ceremony awarding him the "Honorary Doctorate of Science": "Your invention changed the world's communication model and laid the cornerstone for the information highway. After combining light with glass, image transmission, telephones and computers have Kao Kun has achieved great development..." Kao Kun has won international awards almost every year since then, but because the patent rights belong to the British company that hired him, he did not get a lot of wealth from it. Gao Kun, who is deeply influenced by Chinese traditional culture, said in an attitude that is close to the philosophy of Lao and Zhuang: "My invention has achieved success, which is my luck. I should be satisfied."
Gao Kun left After studying in the UK, he served as president of the Chinese University of Hong Kong in 1987 and retired in 1996. After traveling around the world, he came back the year Hong Kong returned to the motherland. Immediately afterwards, he established a high-tech consulting company and served as a consultant for many companies such as Hong Kong Telecom. He currently holds five positions, one of which is a member of the Innovation and Technology Committee, specifically providing advice to the Hong Kong SAR government on how to develop high technology. He said: "Hong Kong has given me the opportunity, and I will try my best to repay her."
Kao Kun's biggest hobbies are playing tennis and making ceramics. He believes that people who engage in scientific research are often both hardworking and lonely. When a person quietly touches the clay vase, enjoys the changing shape of the clay in his hands, and gradually moves toward perfection and beauty according to his own aesthetic vision, it is a "very therapeutic" enjoyment.