Gao Kun was born in Shanghai, 1933. His father was a lawyer and lived in the French Concession. He spent his primary school days in Shanghai. As a child, Gao Kun was most interested in chemistry. He used to make his own fire extinguishers and fireworks? Fireworks and photographic paper. The most dangerous thing is self-control? What happened afterwards? He was fascinated by radio again, and he successfully installed five or six vacuum tube radios at an early age.
1948, their family moved to Hong Kong. Gao Kun first studied at St. Joseph's College and was later admitted to the University of Hong Kong. But at that time, Gao Kun was determined to study electrical engineering, and HKU didn't have this major, so he went to London University. After graduation, he joined the British International Telephone and Telegraph Company? ITT, an engineer, was hired as a researcher in the research room for his outstanding performance, and at the same time, he studied for a doctoral degree at the University of London, graduating from 1967.
1966, Gao Kun put forward a bold idea of replacing copper wire with glass: using the clear and transparent characteristics of glass to transmit signals with light. His starting point at that time was to improve the traditional communication system and make it transmit more information and faster. Many people think this idea is ridiculous, and even think that Gao Kun has mental problems. However, after theoretical research, Gao Kun fully demonstrated the feasibility of optical fiber. However, he also tried to find that kind of "glass without impurities". To this end, he went to many glass factories and Bell Laboratories in the United States, Japan and Germany to discuss how to make glass. During that time, many people ridiculed that there is no glass without impurities in the world. But Gao Kun's confidence has not wavered at all. He said: all scientists should stick to their own opinions and feel that they are right, otherwise they will not succeed.
Later, he invented the timely glass and made the world's first optical fiber, which shocked the scientific community.
Gao Kun's invention made the information superhighway develop rapidly all over the world, which he didn't expect. Therefore, he gained a great world reputation and was known as the "father of optical fiber". The president of Yale University in the United States said at the ceremony of awarding him an honorary doctorate in science: "Your invention has changed the world communication mode and laid the foundation stone for the information superhighway. After the combination of light and glass, image transmission, telephone and computer have made great progress ... "Since then, Gao Kun has won international awards almost every year, but because the patent right belongs to the British company that hired him, he has not gained much wealth from it. China's traditional culture has a great influence on Gao Drum. He said with an attitude close to Lao Zi and Zhuang Zi's philosophy: "My invention really succeeded, which is my luck. I should be content. "
After leaving Britain, Gao Kun served as President of the Chinese University of Hong Kong from 65438 to 0987, and retired from 65438 to 0996. He came back in the year when he traveled around the world in Hong Kong and returned to the motherland. Subsequently, he set up a high-tech consulting company to serve as a consultant for many companies such as Hong Kong Telecom. At present, he holds five posts, one of which is a member of the Commission on Innovation and Technology, which advises the Hong Kong SAR Government on how to develop high technology. He said: "Hong Kong gave me a chance, and I will try my best to repay her."
Gao Kun's greatest hobbies are playing tennis and making ceramics. He thinks that people engaged in scientific research are often hard and lonely. When a person fondles a ceramic bottle quietly, enjoys the ever-changing shape of the ceramic blank in his hand, and gradually moves towards perfection and beauty according to his own aesthetic vision, it is a kind of "very therapeutic" enjoyment.