Fiber optic cables HISTORY (1)

In 1870, a man by the name of John Tyndall (pictured right) showed that light follows the curve of a stream of water pouring from a container. This simple experiment led to the development of applications for this phenomenon. A Mr. John Logie Baird patented a method of transmitting light in a glass rod for early color TV.

During the 1930’s, Corning Incorporated created an engineered material that was a cross between glass and plastic. This led to a nearly pure silica compound which was later used by Corning to produce optical fiber (among other things such as optical lenses, spacecraft windows and and more).

In the 1960’s, Charles Kao and George Hockham proposed the transmission of information over glass fiber. They also understood that to make it work, much lower losses in the cables were essential. Today, optical losses are even lower than the original target set by Messrs. Kao and Hockham.

October 20, 2011

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