Fiber Optic Pioneers Share Marconi Award

NEW YORK, Dec. 4 -- Herwig Kogelnik of Bell Laboratories and Allan Snyder of the Australian National University, both pioneers in the development of fiber optic technology, will share the 27th annual Marconi International Fellowship Award for work that has revolutionized modern telecommunications. The $100,000 award, sponsored by the Marconi Foundation at Columbia University, honors advances in telecommunications and information technology for the public good.

The two will discuss trends and discoveries in optical technology and the coming revolution in photonic crystals today at 4 p.m. in Columbuia's Davis Auditorium of the Schapiro Engineering Center, on Broadway and West 116th St. The Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science is hosting the event in the receipients' honor. The public is invited.

Kogelnik and Snyder have been at the forefront of discoveries in optical technology, said John Jay Iselin, president of the Marconi Foundation, and are now leading developments in optoelectronics. "Scientists predict that semiconductors of light -- like the electronic semiconductors that are at the heart of all computers and other devices -- could further lead the information and telecommunications revolution by enabling higher-capacity optical fibers, nanoscopic lasers and photonic integrated circuits to one day replace today's microchips," he said.