Narinder Singh Kapany, father of fibre optics and Sikh activist passes away at 94

Narinder Singh Kapany, a renowned physicist, businessman, and Sikh activist passed away on December 4, 2020, at the age of 94. Kapany was called the ‘father of fibre optics’ and had more than 100 patents in his name.

Narinder Singh Kapany, who had been living in the United States was the first to transmit images through fibre optics back in 1954 and also laid the foundation for high-speed internet technology.

The renowned physicist founded the Optics Technology Incorporation and Kaptron Incorporation in 1960 and 1973 respectively. Kapany not only founded fibre optics but also used his own invention for the business.

Narinder Singh Kapany: Academic Journey

• Narinder Singh Kapany had graduated from Agra University and proceeded for the advanced studies in optics at the Imperial College of Science and Technology, London.

• He received his doctorate from the London University in 1955 and migrated to the United States to work as a scientist.

• Apart from working on fibre optics, his work also contributes to the field of biomedical instrumentation, lasers, pollution monitoring, and solar energy. All of his achievements in the fields led him to gather more than 100 patents.

• Kapany founded Optics Technology Incorporation in 1960 and served as the President, Chairman of the board, and Director of research for 12 years. The company went public with numerous acquisitions in 1967 and for joint ventures in the US and abroad.

• Kapany founded Kaptron Incorporation in 1973 and remained its President and CEO till 1990. He then sold the company to AMP Inc.

• The remarkable academician also taught Physics at Stanford University and the University of California in different capacities.

• Kapany for his contributions was widely recognized making him a fellow of numerous scientific societies which includes the Optical Society of America, the British Royal Academy of Engineering, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

• In his career, Kapany published over 100 scientific papers and wrote four books on entrepreneurship and optoelectronics.

Father of Fibre Optics:

Narinder Singh Kapany went to Imperial College in London in 1952 in order to work on a Ph.D. degree in optics from the London University. Kapany obtained his Ph.D. in 1955 in which he demonstrated successfully that light can transmit through bent glass fibres.

During his research at the Imperial College, he worked with Harold Hopkins on the transmission through fibres. In 1953, they both achieved good transmission of images through a large bundle of optical fibres for the very first time.

Even though the optical fibres were tried for the transmission of images earlier as well, their technique allowed much better image quality than previously achieved.

Kapany coined the term ‘fibre optics’ in 1960 in an article in Scientific American. He also wrote the first book about this new field and became its most prominent writer, researcher, and spokesperson.

Narinder Singh Kapany: Awards and Recognition

Sikh activist and work on preserving Sikh culture:

Narinder Singh Kapany was also a Sikh activist who worked on preserving the Sikh Heritage. He and his wife Satinder Kaur, on December 29, 1967, founded the Sikh Foundation in California with an aim of preserving and promoting the Sikh heritage. The foundation’s 50th  anniversary was celebrated in 2017.

He was troubled by the events of 1984 in India. In order to explain the events happening in the country at that time, he published newspapers in the US.