THE ROANOKE REGION OF VIRGINIA

One of the three American winners of the Nobel Prize in physics spent the early years of his career at ITT Electro-Optical Products (now ITT Night Vision) in Roanoke County.

Dr. Charles Kao, won half the $1.4 million prize for “discovering how to transmit light signals long distances through hair-thin glass fibers,” according to The Roanoke Times. That discovery led to the high-speed fiber optic networks we take for granted today. (The other half of the prize goes to Willard Boyles and George Smith for inventing a sensor that turns light into electric signals.)

ITT recruited Dr. Kao from the Chinese University in Hong Kong in the mid-1970s to explore sending phone calls over fiber-optic lines. Dr. Kao had developed the concept and ITT gave him the chance to pursue it.