In this interview, Mike Duncan of Optica speaks with physicist, engineer, and inventor Peter Schultz. Schultz recounts his early life in New York and New Jersey, and his education at Rutgers University, where he began studying the physical properties of glass. He describes his early work after graduate school in glass science at Corning in New York, and how that work evolved into research into fiber optics with Bob Mauer. Schultz describes the development of fiber optics over the course of the 1970s, and its industrial and commercial importance. He recounts his move from Corning to other companies working on fiber optics in the 1980s, SpecTran, and then the Germany-based Heraeus, where he became CEO of US operations. Finally, Schultz discusses consulting work in Russia, and his visit to the White House to receive the National Medal of Technology from Bill Clinton.