Kenneth Homer Sherwin, a technician who helped build the first lasers for the late laser co-inventor and Nobel Prize winner Arthur Schawlow, died of heart failure Feb. 6 at a Sunnyvale, Calif., nursing home. He was 80. Lightwave Microsystems announced that its 40-channel arrayed waveguide gratings have passed Telcordia GR1221 and GR1209 qualification tests. Industry standard, Telcordia GR1221 and GR1209 tests require a predetermined number of components exposed over time to dry heat, damp heat, temperature cycling, mechanical shock and vibration environments far beyond what would occur in real-world use; all to identify potential failure modes. Displaytech Inc., manufacturer and developer of ferroelectric liquid crystal (FLC) microdisplays, announced that it has appointed current CEO Haviland Wright as chairman of the board. Wright will remain CEO while concurrently fulfilling the obligations of chairman. Prior to joining Displaytech, Wright founded and led Avalanche Development, a company that helped pioneer the programming language upon which the World Wide Web is based.