Abstract: FRI-07
Sources of Funding: None

Introduction

Until the 20th century, visualization beyond tortuous anatomic and mechanical contours posed a perennial hurdle for physicians and military engineers alike. The end of World War II coincided with profound discoveries in imaging through flexible glass fibers. However, discoveries in fiber optics were not widely distributed and gained little traction for practical use. Both Abraham van Heel and Harold Hopkins separately overcame this by publishing their work in Nature, enigmatically, in the same issue. We sought to discover the timeline of events preceding the publications and explain the coincidental timing.

Methods

PubMed, Google Scholar, HathiTrust and ProQuest were searched for sources describing van Heel and Hopkins&[prime] work on fiber optic imaging devices. Also, since both men are deceased we interviewed Jeff Hecht (City of Light: History of Fiber Optics, 1999) and reviewed his research documents, including articles translated from Dutch and correspondence with Hopkins and William Brouwer, van Heel&[prime]s assistant.

Results

Van Heel, professor of optics at the Technical University of Delft in the Netherlands, focused on coating individual glass fibers to maximize the light delivery and potential length of the fibers. Hopkins, a professor of optics at the Imperial College in London, used bundles of many tiny fibers to increase image resolution. Both innovations proved crucial to fiber optics&[prime] success. When Frits Zernike, another Dutch optics expert, learned of Hopkins&[prime] work while receiving his Nobel prize in physics, he shared this information with van Heel and sparked a race to publish._x000D_ Van Heel was the first of the two to publish his findings. The article appeared in De Ingenieur in June 1953, but had geographically limited readership. To address this, van Heel also sent a letter to the editor of Nature. This was received on May 21, 1953, but delayed in publishing until January 2, 1954. 82&[permil] of letters in the 5 issues centered around January 2, 1954 were published within 2 months of receipt. Van Heel&[prime]s letter appears above a longer letter documenting Hopkins&[prime] own work. Although Hopkins denied prior knowledge of van Heel&[prime]s work, Brouwer references Hopkins as the editor of van Heel&[prime]s letter and suggests his role in the delay in publication.

Conclusions

Harold Hopkins&[prime] pioneering work to improve the image quality of the first flexible fiberscopes is well documented. However, van Heel&[prime]s simultaneous and independent contribution of fiber coatings to increase light delivery should also be credited. When considered together, both Hopkins and van Heel&[prime]s discoveries launched modern fiber optics and changed the field of urology forever.

Funding

None