Graduate Wins 2009 Nobel Prize in Physics

An engineering graduate of The University of Greenwich has been awarded the 2009 Nobel Prize in Physics.

Professor Kao was awarded for being the first person to develop efficient fibre optic cables. In a seminal paper in 1966, published only a year after he was awarded his PhD, Professor Kao suggested that glass fibres made from fused silica could represent “a new form of communication medium”. His suggestion sparked an intense worldwide race to produce glass fibres with low optical losses.


17th century print of Octagon Room at The Greenwich Royal Observatory,

The device, which makes use of Einstein’s discovery that photons of light can be turned into an electrical signal, has had an array of medical applications, such as the development of endoscopes to gain images inside the body for diagnostics and keyhole surgery. In astronomy, the Hubble telescope records its vivid images of distant galaxies and supernovas on CCDs, as did the robotic Mars rovers.


The Millenium Dome seen from Greenwich

While Professor Kao’s discovery was the outcome of several years’ hard graft, Professor Boyle said that he and his co-worker Smith came up with the design for a digital imaging device within the space of a day in 1969. “It was easy that morning when we sketched out on a blackboard a diagram for the CCD,” he said. Baroness Blackstone, Vice Chancellor of the University of Greenwich, and a former Minister of State said that the award would be inspirational to young scientists studying there today:

“Charles Kao’s enormous success shows that former polytechnics do still produce people who make incredible contributions. He will not be the only person in this category,” said Baroness Blackstone.


University of Greenwich in 1960's

When he began his investigation in the 1960s, fibre optics were only capable of transmitting light tens of metres before it petered out. Through a series of precise and methodical experiments Professor Kau identified the chief limiting factor was the absorption of light by iron impurities in the glass. As a result of his work more than 1 billion kilometres of optical cables carry lightning fast broadband internet data to and from households and offices around the world. Two US physicists, Willard Sterling Boyle and George Smith, from Bell Labs in New Jersey, shared the second half of the prize for inventing the first digital imaging technology. Their work made digital cameras possible and has led to huge advances in medical and astronomical imaging technology.


Royal Observatory courtyard, with the Prime Meridian

As a result of his findings, modern fibre optics transmit 95 per cent of the light, allowing long-range, rapid communication. Professor Sir Peter Knight, Senior Principal at Imperial College London, said:

“Kao was the first to understand the impurities in glass and how to get rid of them. He had already spotted the communications opportunities,and therefore the great distances light could travel, while others were still thinking in metres. He was a revolutionary and his work is a fine example of how fundamental research can have a massive impact on our everyday lives.”


The Greenwich Royal Observatory Clock

Professor Charles Kuen Kao, who attended the University of Greenwich in the 1950s, carried out his Nobel-prize winning research while working at Standard Telephones and Cables in Harlow, now owned by the telecommunications multinational Nortel. Kao, a Chinese-born Briton, will receive half of the 10m Swedish kronor (£818,000) prize money, while Professors Smith and Boyle will take a quarter each. Announcing the laureates at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, the Nobel assembly said the research "had helped to shape the foundations of today's networked societies. They have created many practical innovations for everyday life and provided new tools for scientific exploration".



In a telephone interview to the Nobel Prize press conference Professor Boyle said he had “a lovely feeling all over his body” when he received the phone call from the Nobel Foundation”.

“I see people using these little digital cameras all over the world and we started it all,” he said.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/science/genetics/article6863121.ece#

http://alumni.gre.ac.uk/NetCommunity/Page.aspx?pid=240