Back to the Future: The impact of science across Essex

Our conference on the 7th March is almost upon us and it is about time that we introduce another one of our speakers.

Ian Vance has worked in Telecommunications technology for over 50 years. He designed the first complete radio on a silicon chip that has since become the standard for all mobile phones. He held may posts in ITT, STC and Nortel and was managing director of the world-famous Standard Telecommunication Laboratories (STL) in Harlow Essex where usable fibre optic cables were invented.

Ian will talk about the world of Telecommunications and how fibre optics research at the world-famous Standard Telecommunication Laboratories (STL) enabled cheap telephone calls around the globe, on-line everything, and mobile phone connections

“Telcoms is all about connecting A to B. For over 140 years the technical problem has been that lots and lots of connections have been needed. Over 50 years ago a practical possibility of using fibre optics was proposed at Standard Telecommunication Laboratories in Harlow Essex and this proved to be the only solution that has been found, or indeed, proposed, to the problem.”

“How many Nobel Prize in Physics laureates have resided and done their work in Essex? Well one for starters is Charles Kao – the father of Fibre Optics who worked in Harlow and enabled the modern digitally connected world”

Charles Kao

“If you watch Netflix or Amazon Prime or any online service, it would not happen if usable fibre optics had not been invented in Essex in 1966”

“Mobile phones obviously use radio waves to link up the actual phone in your pocket but the cell towers are ultimately connected using fibre optics. So an invention of a practical type of fibre in Harlow in 1966 is still affecting all our lives every time we pull out our iPhone”

Ian Will be one of 6 fantastic speakers at ‘Back to the Future’ on the 7th March. Don’t miss out on your chance to hear Ian, and don’t forget to have a look at the rest of our speakers introductions on our blog.

Book here:
https://www.essexrecordoffice.co.uk/events/back-to-the-future-the-impact-of-science-across-essex/