Hitchin-Stevenage_Fibre_Optic_trial
In 1977 a technical trial took place between Hitchin and Stevenage in Hertfordshire, UK, to demonstrate that optical fibre was capable of transmitting high speed data over large distances.
The idea of fibre optics as a communication medium was a topic that many physicists worldwide had been discussing.[1] A theoretical publication in 1966 by Charles Kao and George Hockham, who were both part of a team of scientists in the Standard Telecommunications Laboratories (STL) in Harlow, Essex, defied conventional wisdom at the time predicting that glass could be made with enough purity to send signals over hundreds of kilometres.[2] A collaboration between STL scientists and the British Post Office set out to transform the theoretical predictions into a practical demonstration. The technology trial was successful, and eventually adopted by the British Post Office.[3]
The Hitchin-Stevenage trial demonstrated to the world that fibre optics was a viable technology, and was an important step in the development of modern fibre-optical telecommunications, ultimately leading to a Nobel Prize in Physics for Charles Kao.