{"id":"charles-k-kao","type":"person","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/charles-k-kao","language":"en","name":"Charles K. Kao","name_en":"Charles K. Kao","name_ne":null,"description":"Hong Kong-British-American physicist","headline":"Hong Kong-British-American physicist","also_known_as":[],"summary":"Sir Charles Kuen Kao was a Hong Kong electrical engineer who contributed to the development and use of fibre optics in telecommunications. In the 1960s, Kao created various methods to combine glass fibres with lasers in order to transmit digital data, which laid the groundwork for the evolution of the Internet and the eventual creation of the World Wide Web.","summary_more":[],"facts":[{"key":"born","label":"Born","values":[{"text":"4 November 1933","date":"1933-11-04"}],"source":{"label":"Wikidata","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q16389#P569"}},{"key":"birthplace","label":"Place of birth","values":[{"text":"Shanghai","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q8686"}],"source":{"label":"Wikidata","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q16389#P19"}},{"key":"died","label":"Died","values":[{"text":"23 September 2018","date":"2018-09-23"}],"source":{"label":"Wikidata","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q16389#P570"}},{"key":"deathplace","label":"Place of death","values":[{"text":"Bradbury Hospice","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q16923560"}],"source":{"label":"Wikidata","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q16389#P20"}},{"key":"citizenship","label":"Citizenship","values":[{"text":"United Kingdom","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q145"},{"text":"United States","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q30"}],"source":{"label":"Wikidata","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q16389#P27"}},{"key":"occupation","label":"Occupation","values":[{"text":"physicist","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q169470"},{"text":"inventor","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q205375"},{"text":"entrepreneur","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q131524"},{"text":"electrical engineer","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1326886"},{"text":"scientist","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q901"},{"text":"university teacher","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1622272"}],"source":{"label":"Wikidata","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q16389#P106"}},{"key":"education","label":"Education","values":[{"text":"University College London","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q193196"},{"text":"University of Greenwich","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1896148"},{"text":"University of London","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q170027"}],"source":{"label":"Wikidata","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q16389#P69"}},{"key":"awards","label":"Awards","values":[{"text":"IEEE Morris N. Liebmann Memorial Award","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q576885","date":"1978"},{"text":"IEEE Alexander Graham Bell Medal","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2086833","date":"1985"},{"text":"Marconi Prize","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q473292","date":"1985"},{"text":"C&C Prize","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5005769","date":"1987"},{"text":"Faraday Medal","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1396110","date":"1989"},{"text":"James C. McGroddy Prize for New Materials","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6130765","date":"1989"},{"text":"SPIE Gold Medal","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q8153695","date":"1992"},{"text":"Prince Philip Medal","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7244197","date":"1996"},{"text":"Japan Prize","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q908745","date":"1996"},{"text":"Charles Stark Draper Prize","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1063447","date":"1999"},{"text":"Asian of the Century","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4806794"},{"text":"Nobel Prize in Physics","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q38104","date":"2009"},{"text":"Grand Bauhinia Medal","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q114985","date":"2010"},{"text":"Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q12201445"}],"source":{"label":"Wikidata","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q16389#P166"}}],"office":null,"sections":[],"cited":[],"cited_from":null,"videos":[],"last_reviewed":null,"organizations":[],"same_as":["https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_K._Kao","https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q16389"],"faq":[{"q":"When was Charles K. Kao born?","a":"Charles K. Kao was born on 4 November 1933 in Shanghai."},{"q":"Where did Charles K. Kao study?","a":"Charles K. Kao was educated at University College London, University of Greenwich, University of London."}],"related":[{"name":"Bernie Ecclestone","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/bernie-ecclestone"},{"name":"Doug Perkins","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/doug-perkins"},{"name":"Gopichand Hinduja","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/gopichand-hinduja"},{"name":"Ian Livingstone","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/ian-livingstone"},{"name":"Jayshree Ullal","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/jayshree-ullal"},{"name":"Jim Ratcliffe","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/jim-ratcliffe"},{"name":"Michael Kadoorie","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/michael-kadoorie"},{"name":"Michael Moritz","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/michael-moritz"},{"name":"Mike Ashley","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/mike-ashley"},{"name":"Philip Green","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/philip-green"},{"name":"Trevor Hemmings","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/trevor-hemmings"},{"name":"David Beckham","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/david-beckham"}],"places_in":[],"nearby":[],"image":{"url":"https://diginpl.com/kb-img/charles-k-kao-68603f798f.jpg","width":500,"height":588,"license":"CC BY-SA 3.0","credit":"David Dobkin [1]","page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Charles_K._Kao_cropped_2.jpg"},"sources":[{"label":"Wikipedia (English): Charles K. Kao","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_K._Kao","license":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/"},{"label":"Wikidata item Q16389","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q16389","license":"https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/"},{"label":"Image: Charles K. Kao cropped 2.jpg by David Dobkin [1] (CC BY-SA 3.0)","url":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Charles_K._Kao_cropped_2.jpg","license":null}],"license":{"text":"CC BY-SA 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/","facts":"https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/"},"attribution":"Text from the Wikipedia article Charles K. Kao, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. This page's text is shared under the same licence. Facts from Wikidata (CC0). Image: Charles K. Kao cropped 2.jpg — David Dobkin [1], CC BY-SA 3.0.","cite":"\"Charles K. Kao\". DigiNepal. Last updated 1 November 2026. https://diginpl.com/people/charles-k-kao. Retrieved 6 November 2026.","date_modified":"2026-11-01T16:28:33Z","facts_checked":"2026-11-05","alternates":{"html":"https://diginpl.com/people/charles-k-kao","en":"https://diginpl.com/people/charles-k-kao","ne":"https://diginpl.com/people/charles-k-kao?lang=ne"}}