华裔诺贝尔物理学奖获得者、“光纤之父”高锟和夫人在美国硅谷的寓所内的全家福照片。 
高锟与太太
高锟夫妇表示，衷心感谢来自香港的问候和祝贺，并向各方友好致意。
获得诺贝尔物理学奖的「光纤之父」高锟与太太发表声明，多谢各界关心，希望可重返平静的生活。
各位朋友：
十月六日，瑞典皇家科学院宣布 Charles 成为本年度诺贝尔物理学奖得主之一。消息公布后，海内外许多朋友经互联网、传真、电邮传来贺电，各个媒体的访问邀约接踵而至，我俩不胜欣感。
诺贝尔奖是国际奖项，旨在表扬造福人类的成就和贡献。目前华裔得诺贝尔奖者尚为少数，今增添一员，全球华人的光荣喜悦，自是不言可喻。
Charles 生于上海，一九六六年在英国哈洛的标準通讯实验室从事研究，后来赴美于国际电话电报公司研发纤维光学逾二十载，使之成为商用技术，一九八七年回到香港，在香港中文大学把所知所学传授给下一代，同时致力向工商界推广科技应用。 Charles 一生周游列国，可谓不折不扣的世界人！
各界友好对 Charles 的关心，我们深表感谢。可惜阿兹海默症目前仍是不治之症，闻人如列根、戴卓尔夫人，亦不能免。 Charles 平日打网球，做运动，不抽烟，饮食均衡，起居正常，记忆力虽见衰退，仍能自得其乐。
对于昔日的研究成果， Charles 深感自豪；对于不期而得的诺贝尔奖， Charles 深感兴奋。 Charles 接受媒体访问，欣悉新闻界已得到所需的事实资料，故深盼重返平静的生活，还请各位媒体朋友见谅。
我俩衷心感谢来自香港的问候和祝贺，并向各方友好致意，包括从前在中大共事的同仁，现正服务于中大的教职员工，所有中大学生和毕业生，还有我俩的深交挚友，尤其是那些不离不弃的网球同好。到了现在，你们应该都知道，高锟是光纤之父。也正是光纤，使那些真伪莫辨、良莠不齐的资讯得以充斥于互联网上，不分畛域，无远弗届。
高锟、黄美芸同谨启
二零零九年十月十三日
Since the announcement on 6 October 2009 that Charles has been awarded the 2009 Nobel Prize in Physics, we have received messages from friends from all over the world via the internet, fax, and email. We are overwhelmed by the sea of congratulatory messages from so many people, and the many requests for interviews from the media.
A Nobel Laureate of Chinese ethnicity is a rare event and we understand the outpouring of happiness and pride for our people throughout the world wherever they live. The Nobel Prize is an international prize and has been awarded for work done internationally.
Charles Kao was born in Shanghai, China, did his primary research in 1966 at Standard Telecommunication Laboratories (STL) in Harlow, UK, followed through with work in the USA at ITT, over the following 20 years, to develop fiber optics into a commercial product and finally came to CUHK, Hong Kong in 1987 to pass on his knowledge and expertise to a new generation of students and businessmen. Charles really does belong to the world!
In this open letter, we would like to thank all who have concern for his health. Unfortunately there is no cure at present for Alzheimer's. Charles shares this problem of coping with Alzheimer with other eminent persons, Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher, to name a few. Charles keeps fit playing tennis and with other exercises. He does not smoke, he enjoys eating and drinking in healthy moderation and sleeps well too. The memory loss is getting more severe, but he enjoys life.
He is eminently proud of his past achievements and excited at becoming a Nobel Laureate – an unexpected award. The press and media have interviewed him and he is happy they have found all the facts they need. So he is more than ready to return to a quiet and undisturbed life now, and he asks that the media respect this.
Our greetings to everyone in Hong Kong, to staff, faculty and students past and present of CUHK, to all our very good friends and especially to our tennis friends. Thank you for all your good wishes and congratulations. Now you know who is responsible for the fiber optical cables that enables all the excessive information, both true and false, good and bad, that circulate on the internet.
Charles and May Wan Kao
13 October 2009
