On looking back to the beginnings ofPhysical Reviewit is interesting to find that the very first paper in volume 1, number 1, 1893, addressed the “transmission spectra of certain substances in the infrared.” The article, authored by Ernest Nichols, included quartz and glass as materials of interest. The same volume offers a review of Nikola Tesla's bookLight and Other High‐Frequency Phenomena. It is therefore fitting that this celebration of the 100th anniversary ofPhysical Reviewincludes a discussion of a technology that is based on fundamental principles of physics addressed in the journal's first issue and countless numbers of later issues and that has profoundly transformed the telecommunications infrastructure of our society.