Father of Fiber Optics

A click on a smartphone places your shopping order on a different continent, but have you ever wondered how that is possible? How do you get high-speed internet at your home? How do doctors perform surgery with real-time imaging? What technology are they using to see inside a person's body? The answer is fiber optics and it's all thanks to the father of fiber optics- Narinder Singh Kapany.

The Indian Physicists who bent light. Source: BBVA Openmind

In today's world, as soon as we wake up, our phone is in our hands, scrolling through social media, online shopping, and bank transactions, everything done seamlessly across continents in the blink of an eye. And it's all thanks to this person whom most of us have no idea about. This person is Narinder Singh Kapany, also called the father of fiber optics. Back in the 1950s, people thought that transmitting light through cables was impossible. They believed that the light would scatter and lose its signal along the way, but Kapany proved them all wrong. Today, non-invasive microsurgery with real-time imaging is done and many lives are saved because of that, all thanks to Kapany's brainchild.

Narinder Singh Kapany was born on October 31, 1926, in Moga, a small town in Punjab. He grew up in a household that placed a strong emphasis on education and intellectual pursuits, and from a young age, Kapany was drawn to the sciences.

Kapany completed his schooling at a school in Dehradun, where he excelled in his studies. He went on to attend Agra University, where he earned a Bachelor's degree in Science with honors in 1948. After completing his undergraduate studies, Kapany worked at the Ordnance Factory in Dehradun before moving to England to pursue higher education.

In England, Kapany earned a Master's degree in optics from the Imperial College of Science and Technology in 1952, and a PhD in physics from the University of London in 1955.

Kapany took optics to a whole new level. He was fascinated by the idea of transmitting light through fiber optic cables, and he became one of the first people in the world to actually do it. Narinder Singh Kapany's inspiration for fiber optics came from a simple observation. After his graduation when Kapany was working at Ordnance Factory Dehradun with lenses and prisms to bend and manipulate light, he noticed that when he shone a beam of light into a glass rod, the light stayed within the rod and didn't scatter. This gave him the idea to transmit light over long distances using a glass rod.

Kapany began experimenting with different materials and designs, and eventually, he created a fiber optic cable that could transmit light over long distances without losing its signal. This was a huge breakthrough in the field of telecommunications, as it opened up new possibilities for transmitting information over long distances and it paved the way for all sorts of amazing technologies like the internet and modern telecommunications networks. Kapany's work truly revolutionized the way we communicate with one another.

In 1960, Kapany coined the term "fiber optics" in an article in Scientific American.

But Kapany didn't stop there. He was also an accomplished entrepreneur and philanthropist. He founded several companies throughout his career, including Optics Technology, which became one of the world's leading manufacturers of fiber optic components.

In addition to his business ventures, Kapany was also a dedicated philanthropist. He established the Sikh Foundation, which promotes Sikh culture and history, and he donated millions of dollars to various charities and causes throughout his life. For his extraordinary contribution to the field of Physics, he was awarded Pravasi Bhartiya Samman in 2004 and posthumously received the Padma Vibhushan in 2021. He passed away on 4 December 2020 at the age of 94 in California, USA, leaving us to ponder and marvel over the technological brilliance he left with us.