On December 10, 2009, Mountain View, Calif. resident Charles K. Kao, Ph.D. received the Nobel Prize in Physics “for groundbreaking achievements concerning the transmission of light in fibers for optical communication.” But instead of presenting a traditional Nobel Lecture prior to accepting the award, Dr. Kao’s wife Gwen Kao took to the podium and presented the lecture on his behalf. Dr. Kao has Alzheimer’s disease.
In a Nobel documentary segment about Dr. Kao, Gwen says the biggest and most upsetting part of this journey has been the loss of conversation. “He has no more intellectual repartee,” she says. “And that’s what I miss.”
Dr. Kao’s loss of the ability to communicate is ironic as he was key to discovering technology that allows global communication: in 1966, he carefully calculated how to transmit light signals via optical glass fibers 5,000 times faster than ever before.
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