Ursula Keller Awarded Marcel Benoist Prize: People in the News: 09/14/22

Ursula Keller was named as the recipient of the Swiss Science Prize Marcel Benoist for her work in ultrafast lasers. The prize is often referred to as the “Swiss Nobel prize” and is granted to a scientist of Swiss nationality or residency for outstanding research important to human life. The award recognizes Keller’s work developing SESAM technology (semiconductor saturable absorber mirror), which enabled light pulses to be sent from solid-state lasers at femtosecond intervals, allowing the investigation of ultrafast phenomena such as the movement of atoms or the mechanisms of chemical reactions.

ETH Zurich physics professor Ursula Keller is the recipient of the 2022 Swiss Science Prize Marcel Benoist. Courtesy of Heidi Hostettler/ETH Zurich.

STONY BROOK, N.Y. — Experimental physicist and Nobel laureate Barry Barish will join Stony Brook University to serve as the inaugural President’s Distinguished Endowed Chair in Physics beginning in the 2023 fall semester. Barish shared the 2017 Nobel Prize in physics for the observation of gravitational waves with the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) experiment. The research proved the existence of ripples in the fabric of space and time predicted by Albert Einstein 100 years earlier. Barish is also the Ronald and Maxine Linde Professor of Physics, Emeritus, at the California Institute of Technology.

Nobel laureate Barry Barish. Courtesy of John Griffin.

JENA, Germany — Jan Willem de Cler, a member of Carl Zeiss Meditec AG’s Management Board, informed the Supervisory Board that he will not be available for a further term of office. The board agreed to terminate his management board contract effective Sept. 30.

WESTBOROUGH, Mass. — Display technology company Kopin Corp. named Michael Murray CEO. Murray succeeds John C. C. Fan, who has held the roles of CEO and chairman since founding the company in 1985. Murray joins the company from Ultra Electronics Group, a British defense and security company, where he served as president of the cyber business. Fan will retain his role as chairman and will work closely with Murray during the transition while continuing to focus on strategic and scientific matters, particularly related to the metaverse, Fan said.

NEUCHÂTEL, Switzerland — Auri Ripoll joined SUSS MicroOptics as market intelligence and strategic marketing manager. Ripoll joins the company from EPIC (European Photonics Industry Consortium) where she served as marketing manager.

BERLIN — Free space optical communications company Rivada Space Networks added Mark Rigolle as COO and acting CFO, and Ann Vandenbroucke as chief regulatory officer. Rigolle and Vandenbroucke are the latest in a series of appointments to bolster the company’s senior leadership team. Diederik Kelder, chief strategy officer, Severin Meister, CEO, and Clemens Kaiser, chief program officer and acting chief technology officer, were appointed in March, April, and May 2022, respectively.

PLANO, Texas — Optical communications company Ribbon Communications appointed Scott Mair to its board of directors. Mair is the former president of AT&T Networks Engineering and Operations, and his appointment brings the size of Ribbon’s board to nine members. Mair will serve on the board’s Audit and Technology and Innovation committees.