Early Life of Narinder Singh Kapany
Narinder Singh Kapany is a name all too well known in the scientific community as one of the pioneers of fibre optics. He was born in Moga, Punjab, India in a Sikh Khatri family. As a child, he was very curious and had a learner’s mind.
While Narinder Singh Kapany was in school his teacher educated him about light and how it always travelled in a straight line. This revelation grew on him and he was fascinated by this behavior of light.
He went on to study physics at a graduate and then a post-graduate level at Agra University. He was serving in the Indian Ordnance Factories Service as an officer for a short while. Not satisfied with his line of work, he chose to follow his passion in academics further.
In 1952, he moved to the Imperial College London for his doctoral studies, obtaining his PhD in optics in 1955. Between getting his doctoral degree and studying optics, he published a paper on image transmission through optic bundles.
This was reported in Nature Journal in 1954, a major push forward in his career. From there he moved to the United States of America to further his academic career and teach there. In 1960, he moved to Palo Alto California and established Optics Technology. He went on to teach at Berkeley, Santa Cruz and even Stanford.
Entrepreneurial Endeavors
Narinder Singh Kapany specialized in the innovation and management of technology. Transferring technology was also in his skill set and he found considerable success as a business owner. In 1967, Optics Technology went public with numerous corporate acquisitions and joint ventures.
In 1973, He laid the foundation of Kaptron Incorporated. Became the CEO and president of the organization and stayed in office till 1990. After 1990 the company was sold to AMP Inc. He joined AMP as the head of the Entrepreneur and Technical Expert Program. Also serving as the CTO for the global communication business.
Kapany also founded a company named K2 Optronics with considerable success. He found a chair in the Young Presidents Organization and World Presidents Organization.
Scientific Contributions and Later Life
Narinder Singh Kapany is a renowned scholar and holds a lot of credibility in optics. He had published over 100 research papers throughout his academic career. He has also written four books on optoelectronics and entrepreneurship guidance.
Throughout his life, Kapany took part in various scientific conventions and important think tank events. He has been and even in old age continues to be one of the supporters of innovative thinking and experimentation.
The word “fibre optics” itself was coined by him. The earliest record of the word’s usage exists in his article titled “fibre optics” in Scientific American, 1960. He was honoured as one of the unsung heroes that have influenced life in the 20th century by Fortune Magazine in 1999.
He was a Regents Professor at UC Berkeley, UC Santa Cruz and Director of Innovation and Entrepreneurial Development at UC Santa Cruz. A consulting professor of the Department of Electrical Engineering and visiting scholar of the Physics Department at Stanford University.
Gratitude, giving back to the world
Even though Charles K. Kao was awarded the Nobel Prize in 2009 for, quote, “his discovery that led to a breakthrough in fibre optics” instead of Kapany. After being named “the father of fibre optics” he was ignored for the Nobel Prize for which he was very deserving – He held onto his gratitude.
Kapany has been a philanthropist of sorts all through his lifetime. A founder of the Sikh Foundation and its patron for over five decades. The organization collaborates with various arts and educational institutions to publish works from around the globe.
He donated a generous five hundred thousand dollars to the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco along with some historical Sikh Art from his own collection. The establishment of a new gallery at the museum was possible because of his donation.
Through the gratitude he has shown towards the various opportunities he was presented with in life and what he made out of them. He has done more than enough not only for the advancement of the arts and academia. But also for digital communication mediums and technology.
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