"Noble" and "benevolent" were words used to describe newly proclaimed Nobel Laureate and former Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) Chancellor Charles Kao yesterday. The sentiments were voiced by Professor Ambrose Y. C. King, former Vice-Chancellor of the CUHK, who worked with Kao for many years. "He is really a gentleman," King said.

The sentiments were among many accolades for the man often called the Father of Fibre Optics, as the CUHK held a celebration in honor of its former chancellor.

King has known Kao well since Kao held the chancellor's post at the university. King said that he frequently sought Kao's advice, noting that "he speaks good Chinese and Excellent English. People can see a lot of Western things about him. But his concepts, his tolerance, are all from the Chinese culture."

"He was always smiling. I never saw him angry," said Professor Tsui Hung-tat of Department of Electronic Engineering of the CUHK, who has co-worked with Kao for four years in the same department.

Kao was the head and founder of Department of Electronics at that time, while Tsui was a lecturer. In the early days of the department, several teachers went to the small restaurants in Tai Wai and had dinner together almost every day. Their discussions were unrestrained and diversified. "He always had strange and avant-garde ideas," Tsui said. "When he first talked about the fiber optics concept, we barely understood and found his ideas quite inconceivable. We also discussed administration and education topics. That saved us a lot of time for meeting."

Tsui recalled the times passed happily. "We had Cantonese food, and we always liked to eat pigeon," he said.

"He was a friend more than a colleague to me," Tsui said. "He was very easy-going and I didn't even feel he was our department head."

Tsui still remembers an anecdote about Kao. He said Kao had a baby face, and because of that, people always mistook him for student. One day, Kao stepped into the office and told them a senior student had just mistaken him as a junior.

"Mr and Mrs Kao now are in the US, and they play tennis several times a week," King revealed.

He said Mrs Kao had pointed to the television and told her husband, "Nobel Prize!" Kao slightly nodded. "For you!" she said. He said slowly, "It's great."

King described the prize as a "belated honor".

Professor Peter Yum, dean of Engineering Department of CUHK, also expected for many years that Kao would win the Nobel Prize. "I felt disappointed about the result of the Nobel Prize every year until now," he said.

The first Chinese winner of the Nobel Prize, Professor Yang Zhen-ning, Nobel Laureate in Physics 1957, also congratulated Kao. Yang always said there must be Nobel-prize-class scientific achievements appearing in China, and today Kao's good news increased his own confidence that he was right.

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