A Time and a Tide: A Memoir

Charles K. Kao was awarded the Nobel Prize in physics for -groundbreaking achievements concerning the transmission of light in fibers for optical communication.- This memoir chronicles his personal and scientific odyssey from his an unfathomable childhood in war-torn Shanghai and Hong Kong to his seminal work with glass fibers. Kao shares his experiences as vice-chancellor of the Chinese University of Hong Kong and muses on his legacy as the -father of fiber optics.- His groundbreaking research (based in part on the discovery that signal loss in fiber cables was a direct result of glass impurities rather than technology flaws) laid the groundwork for our present day communication infrastructure.