Milestones:SPICE (Simulation Program with Integrated Circuit Emphasis), 1969-1970 and Milestones:World's First Low-Loss Optical Fiber for Telecommunications, 1970: Difference between pages

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The Worlds First Low-Loss Optical Fiber for Telecommunications, 1970

1972. Dr. Robert Maurer, Dr. Peter Schultz, and Dr. Donald Keck. Sullivan Park Archive, Corning, N.Y.

2010. Dr. Robert Maurer, Dr. Peter Schultz, and Dr. Donald Keck. Sullivan Park Archive, Corning, N.Y.

In 1970, Corning scientists Dr. Robert Maurer, Dr. Peter Schultz, and Dr. Donald Keck developed a highly pure optical glass that effectively transmitted light signals over long distances. This astounding medium, which is thinner than a human hair, revolutionized global communications. By 2011, the world depended upon the continuous transmission of voice, data, and video along more than 1.6 billion kilometers of optical fiber installed around the globe.

During the mid-1960s, members of the British Post Office came to Corning seeking assistance in creating pure glass fiber optics. Their design required a single-mode fiber (100 micron diameter with a 0.75 micron core) having a total attenuation of about 20 dB/km. The very best bulk optical glasses of the day had attenuations of approximately 1,000 dB/km. This meant Corning’s scientists had to see an improvement in transparency of 1,098 in order to reach the 20 dB/km goal. It seemed impossible, but they did it, inventing an optical fiber with attenuation of 17 dBkm. As a result, Corning’s invention of the first low-loss optical fiber and the manufacturing process used to produce it revolutionized the telecommunications industry and changed the world forever. The explosion of the Internet and other information technologies would not have been possible without optical fiber. Only optical fiber provides the bandwidth required for high-speed transmission of voice, data, and video the world depends upon for the way we live, work, and play. Today, there are more than 1.6 billion kilometers of fiber installed around the globe.

This breakthrough work established the optical fiber category. There were no similar achievements at the time of the invention. In recognition of this achievement, the three scientists responsible for inventing low-loss optical fiber – Dr. Robert Maurer, Dr. Peter Schultz, and Dr. Donald Keck – have been inducted into the Inventors Hall of Fame and were awarded the National Medal of Technology.

References and Further Reading

Corning. "Corning Inventors of Low-Loss Optical Fiber Receive Nation's Highest Technology Honor." Award Editorial.

Dyer, Davis, and Daniel Gross. The Generations of Corning: the Life and times of a Global Corporation. New York, NY: Oxford UP, 2001.

Graham, Margaret B. W., and Alec T. Shuldiner. Corning: and the Craft of Innovation. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2001.

Hecht, Jeff. City of Light: the Story of Fiber Optics. New York: Oxford UP, 1999.

Magaziner, Ira, and Mark Patinkin. The Silent War. Corning Glass: The Battle to Talk with Light. Random House, 2000.

Maurer, Robert D. 3,785,716. Corning Glass Works, Corning, N.Y., assignee. Patent 3,785,716. 15 Jan. 1974.

Maurer, Robert D., and Peter C. Schultz. Fused Silica Optical Waveguide. Corning Glass Works, Corning, N.Y., assignee. Patent 3,659,915. 2 May 1972.

Maurer, Robert D. Method of Producing Glass for Optical Waveguides. Corning Glass Works, Corning, N.Y., assignee. Patent 3,791,714. 12 Feb. 1974.

Letter from the site owner giving permission to place IEEE milestone plaque on the property

Fiber Optic Milestone Support Letter
Supporting Materials.doc

Map

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-''SPICE (Simulation Program with Integrated Circuit Emphasis) was created at UC Berkeley as a class project in 1969-1970. It evolved to become the worldwide standard integrated circuit simulator. SPICE has been used to train many students in the intricacies of circuit simulation. SPICE and its descendants have become essential tools employed by virtually all integrated circuit designers.''
+== The Worlds First Low-Loss Optical Fiber for Telecommunications, 1970 ==
+[[Image:Corning Fiber-optic Inventors 3.jpg|right|thumb|1972. Dr. Robert Maurer, Dr. Peter Schultz, and Dr. Donald Keck. Sullivan Park Archive, Corning, N.Y.]]
+[[Image:Corning Fiber-optic Inventors 4.jpg|right|thumb|1972. Dr. Robert Maurer, Dr. Peter Schultz, and Dr. Donald Keck. Sullivan Park Archive, Corning, N.Y.]]
+[[Image:Corning Fiber-optic Inventors 2.jpg|right|thumb|2010. Dr. Robert Maurer, Dr. Peter Schultz, and Dr. Donald Keck. Sullivan Park Archive, Corning, N.Y.]]
-'''The plaque may be viewed just inside the main entrance to Cory Hall at the University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720 USA. Cory Hall is the Electrical Engineering building at UC Berkeley and is the building where all three versions of SPICE were developed.'''
+''In 1970, Corning scientists [[Robert D. Maurer|Dr. Robert Maurer]], Dr. Peter Schultz, and Dr. Donald Keck developed a highly pure optical glass that effectively transmitted light signals over long distances. This astounding medium, which is thinner than a human hair, revolutionized global communications. By 2011, the world depended upon the continuous transmission of voice, data, and video along more than 1.6 billion kilometers of optical fiber installed around the globe.''
-SPICE was the first computer program for simulating the performance of integrated circuits that was readily available to undergraduate students for study of integrated circuit design. Hundreds of graduates from UC Berkeley and other universities became the backbone of the engineering workforce that moved the US to microelectronics to industry leadership in the 1970s. Graduates of Berkeley became leaders of today's largest firms delivering design automation capabilities for advanced microelectronics.
+During the mid-1960s, members of the British Post Office came to Corning seeking assistance in creating pure glass fiber optics. Their design required a single-mode fiber (100 micron diameter with a 0.75 micron core) having a total attenuation of about 20 dB/km. The very best bulk optical glasses of the day had attenuations of approximately 1,000 dB/km. This meant Corning’s scientists had to see an improvement in transparency of 1,098 in order to reach the 20 dB/km goal. It seemed impossible, but they did it, inventing an optical fiber with attenuation of 17 dBkm. As a result, Corning’s invention of the first low-loss optical fiber and the manufacturing process used to produce it revolutionized the telecommunications industry and changed the world forever. The explosion of the Internet and other information technologies would not have been possible without optical fiber. Only optical fiber provides the bandwidth required for high-speed transmission of voice, data, and video the world depends upon for the way we live, work, and play. Today, there are more than 1.6 billion kilometers of fiber installed around the globe.
-SPICE was much more than a simple program for instructional use. It was the first to incorporate sparse matrix analysis to permit economic simulation of large circuits, adjoint analysis for sensitivity to component variations and noise, built-in device models for "first-cut" design, and a simple user interface that evolved through the transitions from punched cards to dumb terminals to sophisticated workstations. For the first time, the developers of SPICE made source code widely available, enabling others to contribute more sophisticated device models and additional analysis capabilities. These factors contributed to its dominant status in the subsequent development of both open-source and proprietary circuit simulation software.
+This breakthrough work established the optical fiber category. There were no similar achievements at the time of the invention. In recognition of this achievement, the three scientists responsible for inventing low-loss optical fiber – Dr. Robert Maurer, Dr. Peter Schultz, and Dr. Donald Keck – have been inducted into the Inventors Hall of Fame and were awarded the National Medal of Technology.
 == References and Further Reading ==
-[1] L. W. Nagel, “CANCER: Computer Analysis of Nonlinear Circuits Excluding Radiation,”
+Corning. "Corning Inventors of Low-Loss Optical Fiber Receive Nation's Highest Technology Honor." Award Editorial.
-Masters Report, Dept of EECS, Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA, December 11, 1970.
-[2] R. A. Rohrer, L. W. Nagel, R. Meyer, and L. Weber, “CANCER: Computer Analysis of
+Dyer, Davis, and Daniel Gross. The Generations of Corning: the Life and times of a Global Corporation. New York, NY: Oxford UP, 2001.
-Nonlinear Circuits Excluding Radiation,” 1971 IEEE Intl Solid-State Circuit Conference,
-Philadelphia, PA, February 18, 1971, pp. 124-125.
-[3] L. Nagel and R. Rohrer, "Computer Analysis of Nonlinear Circuits, Excluding Radiation
+Graham, Margaret B. W., and Alec T. Shuldiner. Corning: and the Craft of Innovation. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2001.
-(CANCER)," IEEE J Solid-State Circuits, Vol SC-6, No 4, August 1971, pp. 166-182.
-[4] L. W. Nagel and D. O. Pederson, “Simulation Program with Integrated Circuit Emphasis
+Hecht, Jeff. City of Light: the Story of Fiber Optics. New York: Oxford UP, 1999.
-(SPICE),” presented at 16th Midwest Symp. on Circuit Theory, Ontario, Canada, April 12, 1973
-and available as Memorandum No ERL-M382, Electronics Research Laboratory, College of
-Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, CA,
-[[www.eecs.berkeley.edu/Pubs/TechRpts/1973/ERL-382.pdf]]
-[5] L. W. Nagel, “SPICE2: A Computer Program to Simulate Semiconductor Circuits,” PhD
+Magaziner, Ira, and Mark Patinkin. The Silent War. Corning Glass: The Battle to Talk with Light. Random House, 2000.
-dissertation, Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA, May 9 1975 and available as Memorandum No
-ERL-M520, Electronics Research Laboratory, College of Engineering, University of California,
-Berkeley, CA, [[www.eecs.berkeley.edu/Pubs/TechRpts/1975/ERL-520.pdf]].
-[6] E. Cohen, “Program Reference for SPICE2,” University of California, Berkeley, ERL Memo
+Maurer, Robert D. 3,785,716. Corning Glass Works, Corning, N.Y., assignee. Patent 3,785,716. 15 Jan. 1974.
-UCB/ERL M75/520, May 1975, [[www.eecs.berkeley.edu/Pubs/TechRpts/1976/ERL-592.pdf]].
-[7] A. Vladimeriscu and S. Liu, “The Simulation of MOS Integrated Circuits Using SPICE2,”
+Maurer, Robert D., and Peter C. Schultz. Fused Silica Optical Waveguide. Corning Glass Works, Corning, N.Y., assignee. Patent 3,659,915. 2 May 1972.
-University of California, Berkeley, UCB/ERL M80/7, October 1980,
-[[www.eecs.berkeley.edu/Pubs/TechRpts/1980/ERL-80-7.pdf]].
-[8] A. Vladimirescu, K. Zhang, A. R. Newton, D. O. Pederson and A. L. Sangiovanni-
+Maurer, Robert D. Method of Producing Glass for Optical Waveguides. Corning Glass Works, Corning, N.Y., assignee. Patent 3,791,714. 12 Feb. 1974.
-Vincentelli, “SPICE Version 2G User’s Guide,” Dept. of EECS, University of California,
-Berkeley, August 1981.
-[9] T. L. Quarles, “Analysis of Performance Issues and Convergence in Circuit Simulation,”
+== Letter from the site owner giving permission to place IEEE milestone plaque on the property<br> ==
-University of California, Berkeley, ERL Memo UCB/ERL M89/42. April 1989,
-[[www.eecs.berkeley.edu/Pubs/TechRpts/1980/ERL-80-7.pdf]].
-[10] T. L. Quarles, “SPICE3 Version 3C1 User’s Guide,” University of California, Berkeley,
+[[Media:IECRC_EE_Milestone_Nomination_Site_Confirmation_Letter_121311_(2).doc|Fiber Optic Milestone Support Letter]]<br>[[Media:Supporting_Materials.doc|Supporting Materials.doc]]
-ERL Memo UCB/ERL M89/46, April 1989,
-[[www.eecs.berkeley.edu/Pubs/TechRpts/1989/ERL-89-46.pdf]].
-== Letter from the site owner giving permission to place IEEE milestone plaque on the property ==
+== Map ==
-[[Media:IEEE.Plaque.SPICE.pdf|SPICE Milestone Support Letter]]<br>[[Media:Historical_references_for_SPICE.pdf|Historical references for SPICE.pdf]]</p>
-== Proposal and Nomination ==
-[[Milestone-Proposal:Birthplace of the SPICE Circuit Simulation Program, 1971]]
-[[Milestone-Nomination:Birthplace of the SPICE Circuit Simulation Program, 1971]]
+{{#display_map:42.162019, -77.094137~ ~ ~ ~ ~Corning R&D, Sullivan Park, Painted Post, NY, U.S.A.|height=250|zoom=10|static=yes|center=42.162019, -77.094137}}
-== Map ==
-{{#display_map:37.875131, -122.257501~ ~ ~ ~ ~University of California, Berkeley|height=250|zoom=10|static=yes|center=37.875131, -122.257501}}
+[[Category:Optics|Fiber]] [[Category:Fiber optics|Fiber]]
-[[Category:Computer_science|{{PAGENAME}}]]
+[[Category:Optics|{{PAGENAME}}]]
-[[Category:Computing|{{PAGENAME}}]]
-[[Category:Data_systems|{{PAGENAME}}]]