is an American manufacturer of
Glass ,
Ceramic s and related materials, primarily for industrial and scientific applications. The company was known until 1989 as '''Corning Glass Works'''.
Originally founded in the Williamsburg section of
Brooklyn, New York , the company later moved its headquarters to the city of
Corning, New York .
In the fall of 1970, the company announced that its researchers had succeeded in making an
Optical Fiber useful for long distance communication, having an optical
Attenuation of only 17
DB per kilometer, made from extremely pure
Silica glass doped with
Titanium . That invention resulted in Corning Incorporated becoming the world's largest manufacturer of optical fiber by the 1990s. The company benefitted from the boom in demand for long haul fibre optic cable in the late 1990s, but its profits were hit when this market fell in value terms dramatically in 2000 and 2001 worldwide.
s in cars and light trucks that use gasoline engines. The company is also making a major investment in the production of ceramic emission control products for diesel engines as a result of tighter emission standards for those engines both in the U.S. and abroad.
Other notable products manufactured by Corning Incorporated include mirror blanks for some of the world's largest telescopes, windows for all U.S. Space Shuttles and
Steuben Art Glass . From 1982 to 1996, Corning owned Corning Clinical Laboratories; Corning did a
Spin-off of that business to their stockholders at the time as
Quest Diagnostics .
Corning Incorporated employs about 25,000 people worldwide and has annual revenues
As Of 2006 of $5.17 billion. Corning has been listed for many years among
Fortune Magazine's 500 largest industrial companies, and is currently ranked 439.
It traces its origins to a glass company established in Massachusetts in 1851 by a member of the founding
Houghton Family . In
1918 , it acquired
Steuben Glass Works .
Although the company is publicly owned,
James R. Houghton , a descendant of the founder, served as chairman of the board of directors from 2001-2007 and still serves as a director.
Wendell P. Weeks is chairman and chief executive officer (
As Of 2007 ).
Other Corning notables over its 150 year history include: invention of a process for rapid and inexpensive production of
Light Bulb s (in fact, Corning developed the glass for
Thomas Edison 's light bulb.); early major manufacturer of glass panels and funnels for television tubes; invention and production of
Vycor TM (high temperature glass with high thermal shock resistance), and the invention and production of Corelle
TM (durable glass dinnerware),
Pyrex TM, and Pyroceram
TM (glass-ceramic cookware).
