City of Light: The Story of Fiber Optics (Sloan Technology Series) |  | Author: Jeff Hecht
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Category: Book
List Price: $24.95
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Rating:  7 reviews
Media: Paperback
Edition: Rev Exp
Pages: 368
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.1
Dimensions (in): 9.4 x 6.2 x 0.9
ISBN: 0195162552
Dewey Decimal Number: 621.3692
EAN: 9780195162554
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Amazon.com Review
Computers you notice. They sit on your desk and hum, ever smaller, ever faster, and always obsolete if bought longer ago than last week. But the equally impressive technology that turns millions of terminals into a global network is less obvious. The phone line that comes into your house probably still pushes electrons through metal. But not far away, the signal will join millions of others relayed down fiber optic cables by laser. Jeff Hecht's fascinating account of this undersung technology goes back 150 years to find the origins of fiber optics. Then he chronicles the many ingenious and determined engineers who fashioned it into a technology that festoons the globe with cables carrying pulses of photons. It was harder than pioneering copper links because supplanting an existing technology needs more persuasion than establishing the first one. And there was competition from the satellite industry, as well as unexpected setbacks, such as sharks who ignored copper but chewed fiber optic cables. Hecht tells a good tale, combining a light journalistic touch with a scholarly knowledge of the industry he has covered for over two decades. The story is not over yet, but this is a rich account of how we got this far in a technology that really has fueled a revolution. --Jon Turney, Amazon.co.uk
Product Description
City of Light tells the story of fiber optics, tracing its transformation from 19th-century parlor trick into the foundation of our global communications network. Written for a broad audience by a journalist who has covered the field for twenty years, the book is a lively account of both the people and the ideas behind this revolutionary technology. The basic concept underlying fiber optics was first explored in the 1840s when researchers used jets of water to guide light in laboratory demonstrations. The idea caught the public eye decades later when it was used to create stunning illuminated fountains at many of the great Victorian exhibitions. The modern version of fiber optics--using flexible glass fibers to transmit light--was discovered independently five times through the first half of the century, and one of its first key applications was the endoscope, which for the first time allowed physicians to look inside the body without surgery. Endoscopes became practical in 1956 when a college undergraduate discovered how to make solid glass fibers with a glass cladding. With the invention of the laser, researchers grew interested in optical communications. While Bell Labs and others tried to send laser beams through the atmosphere or hollow light pipes, a small group at Standard Telecommunication Laboratories looked at guiding light by transparent fibers. Led by Charles K. Kao, they proposed the idea of fiber-optic communications and demonstrated that contrary to what many researchers thought glass could be made clear enough to transmit light over great distances. Following these ideas, Corning Glass Works developed the first low-loss glass fibers in 1970. From this point fiber-optic communications developed rapidly. The first experimental phone links were tested on live telephone traffic in 1977 and within half a dozen years long-distance companies were laying fiber cables for their national backbone systems. In 1988, the first transatlantic fiber-optic cable connected Europe with North America, and now fiber optics are the key element in global communications. The story continues today as fiber optics spread through the communication grid that connects homes and offices, creating huge information pipelines and replacing copper wires. The book concludes with a look at some of the exciting potential developments of this technology.
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 7
 This book is thorough, well written and entertaining! May 20, 1999
7 out of 7 found this review helpful
Hecht makes fiber optics understandable to even the most non-technical of us. The constant stream of anecdotes keeps you turning the pages. The stories from the laboratories are great. You really get the feel for the personalities of the competing scientists. I would reccomend this book to anyone intersted in the field or interested in technology in general and how an invention is born from a parlor trick and becomes a telecommunications necessity.
Comprehensive History of Fiber Optics May 30, 2001
Bill B (Long Island, New York USA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Fiber optics, the backbone of local and international communications and of the Internet, seems like a new technology, but in this comprehensive history of the field Jeff Hecht describes the Victorian origins of light guiding via jets of water. In the first half of the 20th century a number of researchers independently discovered flexible glass fibers, and with the introduction of the laser in the 1950s long-distance optical communication became a possibility. The main section of the book focuses on the work of researchers in Britain, Japan, and the United States from the 1950s through the 1980s as they overcome many technical problems and develop the beginnings of modern fiber optic cables, documenting the failures, the dead-ends, and the ultimate success in the early 1980s. Extensively researched and annotated, with much material from primary sources, City of Light is accessible to the non-technical reader, yet has enough detail and links to additional sources to satisfy students of engineering history.
Excellent book! June 28, 1999
Thomas Nesmith (Seattle, WA USA)
The author has an easy narrative style, even though clarity is obstructed by poetic wax in a few places.I am amazed out how much information about fiber optics I have absorbed without study. If you like techie stuff, you'll love this book. If you like Dilbert, you'll love this book. Read it!
Great Section on Nobel Prize Winner, Charles K. Kao! October 9, 2009
Sam
Charles Kao recently won the 2009 Nobel Prize in Physics "for groundbreaking achievements concerning the transmission of light in fibers for optical communication." Hecht does a terrific job giving a thorough description of Kao's work that won him this award.
 Good explanation of "where it all came from" August 30, 2000
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
Hecht does a good job of explaining where the technology of fiber optics communications came from. His book is not an explanation of how fiber optics communications works, but a history. I have a reasonably good background in fiber optics communications so it's difficult for me to judge whether someone who knew nothing about it would find it easy to follow, although I think they would. I would particularly recommend the book to fiber optic techies - it really makes the technology more meaningful when you understand how the technology developed. A fine job by a good writer - very close to five stars. And if you're technically oriented and want more knowledge of fiber optic technology, I'd recommend "Optical Networks" by Ramaswami and Sivarajan.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 7
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