ENGINEERING

Professor KO was a chair professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, the University of Hong Kong, till his retirement in 2000. Since 2000, he is an honorary professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering.

From 2003, he is an Emeritus Professor of the University of Hong Kong.

Prof. KO graduated from the Department of Mechanical Engineering, the University of Hong Kong, in 1963. In 1969, he obtained his Doctor of Philosophy from the University of Southampton, England. In 1995, Prof. KO was awarded the Doctor of Science, the University of Hong Kong. In 2004, KO was awarded the Doctor of Science, the University of Southampton, Southampton, England.

Since 2003, Prof. KO is an Honorary Fellow, the Open University of Hong Kong.

Since 2003, he is an Honorary Fellow of the Hong Kong Institute of Acoustics.

Since 2007, he is an Honorary University Fellow, the University of Hong Kong.

Since 2013, he is a University Fellow, the Hong Kong Polytechnic University.

Prof. KO is a fellow of the Hong Kong Institution of Engineers. Until his retirement, he was a Chartered Engineer, a fellow of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, a fellow of the Institute of Acoustics, the United Kingdom and a member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. He is a founding member and a fellow of the Hong Kong Institute of Acoustics.

Prof. KO is a member of the Editorial Advisory Board, International Journal of Experimental Heat Transfer, Thermodynamics, and Fluid Mechanics. He has served as chairman, and member of different international committees and scientific committees of conferences. He has organised international conferences in Hong Kong. Prof. KO has initiated an international conference on the interaction of science and art. The first conference was held in Hong Kong. Since then it was held in Berlin and in Zurich.

Prof. KO has also served in different government and other committees in Hong Kong on environment, safety and handicap. He was the Chairman and Supervisor of the Council of Hong Kong School for the Deaf and Chun Tok School.

Prof. KO has published extensively in international journals and conference proceedings. He has published more than 240 research papers on fluid dynamics and sound.

He was a pioneer in the control of noise pollution in Hong Kong.

ART

Prof. KO started doing underwater photography in 1964. Until 1985, he dove in different oceans of the world. He took pictures of marine lives in the tropical and temperate seas. In 1970, he won the gold and silver medals in underwater photography, Underwater Federation of Hong Kong. Prof. KO has given talks and has appeared on television on underwater photography and on the conservation of the oceans. In the 1980s he did propose marine parks in Hong Kong for the conservation of our marine heritage. He also has three patents on his invention of underwater camera in the United States of America and the United Kingdom.

In 1979, Prof. KO started doing sculpture. In 1983, he won the Urban Council Fine Arts Award for Sculpture. He obtained a French Government Fellowship in 1987 and was the recipient of a grant from the Consortium for Pacific Arts and Culture, Honolulu, Hawaii in 1991.

In 1987, he started doing painting while he was in France.

In later years, he also started doing installation art.

Since 1991, Prof. KO is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, the United Kingdom. He is a founder member and was the president of the Hong Kong Sculptors Association. He was also the Honorary Museum’s Adviser (Promotion of Hong Kong Art Panel), the Hong Kong Museum of Art. In 1988-1992, he was an honorary lecturer in the Department of Fine Art, the University of Hong Kong. In 1989-1991, he was a tutor in the Department of Extra Mural Studies, the University of Hong Kong.

In 2008, he was elected to be a member of the Chinese Artists Association.

In 2010, he was appointed the Chairman of the Advisory Committee, and the Academy of Visual Arts, the Hong Kong Baptist University.

On different occasions, he acted as judge and jury for the awards of institutes, such as the Hong Kong Institute of Architects, the Hong Kong Institute of Landscape Architects and the Agriculture, Fisheries & Conservation Department, the Hong Kong SAR Government.

He has also delivered lectures on sculptural art.

Prof. KO has held 23 one-man exhibitions in sculpture, paintings, underwater photography, photography and installation art. He has participated in 70 joint exhibitions.

Many of his bigger sculptures are on display in public places in Hong Kong.

Private collectors in different parts of the world collect his smaller works.