I am so excited. I am sure every Hong Kong citizen also feels very excited. We finally have a Nobel Prize laureate who is "made in Hong Kong"! Congratulation to Dr. Charles K. Kao (高錕) for being awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2009 today "for groundbreaking achievements concerning the transmission of light in fibres for optical communication". Dr. Kao is widely regarded as the "Father of Fiber Optic Communications". His high school years were spent at St. Joseph's College, Hong Kong. He then obtained his bachelor degree and Ph.D at Imperial College London. He has worked as an engineer and researcher at several facilities in UK and USA, but most importantly, ever since 1970, he has been a faculty member of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, and was the university's Vice-Chancellor from 1987 to 1996 (the Chancellor was the Hong Kong Governor and was just an honorary position, so the Vice-Chancellor was the actual head of the university). I think almost nobody from Hong Kong in my generation does not know Dr. Kao. He is our treasure, Hong Kong's treasure. However, I've just read a news article that says Dr. Kao may be suffering from Alzheimer's disease. After all, he is 75 years old now. I know in many cases it takes time to verify the practicability of scientific works, but how come the Nobel Prize committee often does not award the prize to somebody until s/he is approaching the last stage of her/his life? Anyway, my congratulations to Dr. Kao again!!!
