The principle of guiding light through a medium was demonstrated as early as the 1840s in Paris. Narinder Singh Kapany, an Indian-American physicist, is often credited with the first practical demonstration of fiber optic cables in the 1950s, while working in the UK.
Standard Telecommunication Laboratories in Harlow, England, played a crucial role in the development of optical fiber communication in the early 1960s, including the work of Charles K. Kao.
Corning Glass Works, in the US, achieved a breakthrough in 1970 with the development of low-loss optical fiber suitable for telecommunications.
No it wasn't invented by an Indian artisan sitting round a fire beating a copper into shape.
