Narinder Singh Kapany was an Indian-American physicist renowned for his work and contribution to fiber optics, more so that he was named “the father of fiber optics” for his prominent role in advancing the field both as a researcher and as the founder of several optical technologies companies. He was credited for coining Fiber optics and was posthumously awarded the second-highest Indian civilian award, “the Padma Vibhushan,” in 2020. Fortune named him one of the Seven “Unsung Heroes” in 1999 Bu... moreNarinder Singh Kapany was an Indian-American physicist renowned for his work and contribution to fiber optics, more so that he was named “the father of fiber optics” for his prominent role in advancing the field both as a researcher and as the founder of several optical technologies companies. He was credited for coining Fiber optics and was posthumously awarded the second-highest Indian civilian award, “the Padma Vibhushan,” in 2020. Fortune named him one of the Seven “Unsung Heroes” in 1999 Businessmen of the century, and he had many other awards to his honor.
Narinder was born on 31 October 1926 to a Sikh family in India, graduated from Agra University and later completed his advanced studies in optics at Imperial College London, where he also worked with Harold Hopkins to pioneer the transmission through fiber, and achieving clean and better image transmission through larger bundles of optical fiber.
Narinder and Hopkins techniques was a breakthrough much needed in optics as it allowed greater resolution of images to be transferred until the previous achievements in the field. Narinder crowned the achievements with an article published in scientific American in 1960, where he coined the word “fiber optics” and published the first book relating to the prospects of the new field that serve as a foundation and guide for further research and development in the field.
Narinder was a Regents Professor at UC Santa Cruz from 1977 to 1983 and was honored with the UC Santa Cruz Foundation’s Fiat Lux Award in recognition of his outstanding achievement, dedication, and service in support of the university’s programs and goals in 2008. Narinder’s work and research were more focused on lasers, biomedical instrumentation fiber optics communication, solar energy, and pollution monitoring. His passionate and enthusiastic spirit moved him to obtain his Ph.D in 1955 from the University of London.
He started several companies in Silicon Valley, earned over 120 patents and belong to the National inventor's council. He also belongs as an international fellow to many scientific societies that include The Optical Society of America, the Royal Academy of Engineering and the American Association for the advancement of science. He received many awards and honors, including the Excellence 2000 Award from the USA Pan-Asian American Chamber of Commerce and the Pravasi Bharati Samman Award from the Government of India.
Narinder founded and was the first director of UCSC’s Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurial Development (CIED). The passionate, determined, and focused Kapany was instrumental to convening national thought leaders in Government, industry, and Academia to discuss, dialogue, and learn about the impact and role innovation and entrepreneurship play within the university. Narinder also taught and supervised postgraduate student’s research activities, a reagent professor at the University of California, Berkeley and the University of California, Santa Cruz. He was a visiting scholar in the Physics Department and consulting professor in the department of electrical engineering at Stanford University. He was not only a renowned scientist and lecturer but also an author as he has over 100 published scientific papers and 4 books on Optoelectronics and entrepreneurship to his honor.
As a notable philanthropist, Narinder was deeply committed to championing Sikh culture and language. He was the founding chairman of the Sikh Foundation and funded it for over 50 years. He created the Sikh Foundation in 1967, and he was endowed a Chair of Sikh Studies at UC Santa Barbara in 1998. He donated his family’s collection of Sikh art worth $500,000 to the San Francisco Asian Art Museum and funded a gallery for its display in 1999. He established the Narinder Kapany Endowed chair in entrepreneurship at UC Santa Cruz in 2012. He was also a trustee at Santa Cruz Foundation of University of California, and Menlo School in Menlo Park California.
The amazing author, lecturer, scientist, and philanthropist took his last breath in California, US, on 4 December 2020 at the age of 94.
