The Man who bent Light

Narinder Singh Kapany is considered by many as the unsung hero and father of fibre optics, with his diverse pioneering achievements in the area arguably not receiving the level of recognition that they truly deserve. Kapany was one of the first physicists to demonstrate that a bundle of fine glass fibres could transmit high-resolution images, and performed many early experiments to investigate the physics of coupling and propagation of light in fibres. In biomedical optics, he designed fibre-optic hypodermic probes for imaging of living human tissue, conducted early experiments to cure retinal detachment with lasers and also demonstrated optical oximetry of blood. He also designed key components for fibre-optics-based communication systems and made pioneering contributions in solar energy. Today, optical fibres are indispensable to a wide variety of fields. They form the backbone of optical data transmission systems that carry the Internet around the world, and generate and guide intense laser light for tasks in material processing, biomedicine diagnostics and laser surgery. Fibres also play a critical role in spectroscopy and optical sensing of chemical and biological substances. The genesis of the field of fibre optics owes much to Kapany. Kapany died in Redwood City, California, USA, on 4 December 2020, aged 94.