440. The Fiberoptic Breakthrough: Hopkins, Hirschowitz, and the Flexible Scope

By the mid-20th century, endoscopy and laparoscopy were ready for major advancement. Although instruments had evolved into semi-flexible designs, visualization was still limited by glass optics and heat-producing light sources. A breakthrough toward fully flexible, high-resolution imaging emerged through the combined demands of surgery and advances in optical physics, driven by the pioneering work of Harold Hopkins and Basil Hirschowitz.

You can listen to 440. The Fiberoptic Breakthrough: Hopkins, Hirschowitz, and the Flexible Scope online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

440. The Fiberoptic Breakthrough: Hopkins, Hirschowitz, and the Flexible Scope is an episode from Surgery 101 by Jon White.

This episode is 10:02 long.

This episode was published on Jan 21, 2026.

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