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Memorial Tributes: Volume 22 (2019)

Chapter: IVAN P. KAMINOW

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Suggested Citation:"IVAN P. KAMINOW." National Academy of Engineering. 2019. Memorial Tributes: Volume 22. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25543.
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Suggested Citation:"IVAN P. KAMINOW." National Academy of Engineering. 2019. Memorial Tributes: Volume 22. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25543.
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Suggested Citation:"IVAN P. KAMINOW." National Academy of Engineering. 2019. Memorial Tributes: Volume 22. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25543.
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IVAN P. KAMINOW

1930–2013

Elected in 1984

“For basic contributions to optical telecommunications in the areas of electro-optic modulation, integrated optics, optical fibers and semiconductor lasers.”

BY CONNIE CHANG-HASNAIN AND ALAN E. WILLNER

IVAN PAUL KAMINOW, a luminary in the photonics community, passed away in San Francisco on December 18, 2013, at age 83. For more than 50 years he was at the forefront of light-wave technology research that helped bring about a telecommunications revolution. His contributions are evident in the ongoing activities of researchers, engineers, and companies working in the field.

Born March 3, 1930, in Union City, New Jersey, Ivan received his BS from Union College (1952) and his MS from the University of California, Los Angeles (1954), both in electrical engineering. He earned a PhD from Harvard University in 1960; his thesis, under C. Lester Hogan and later R. Victor Jones, was on ferromagnetic resonance at microwave frequencies and high pressures.

In 1954 he began a 42-year career at Bell Labs in Holmdel, NJ, where perhaps his greatest technical legacy is the electro-optic modulator and its materials. His achievements also included the creation of titanium-diffused lithium niobate modulators and other integrated optics, development of birefringent optical fibers, analysis of Raman scattering in ferroelectrics, and

Suggested Citation:"IVAN P. KAMINOW." National Academy of Engineering. 2019. Memorial Tributes: Volume 22. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25543.
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demonstration of semiconductor laser technologies such as the distributed Bragg reflector and ridge waveguide. Beginning in 1984 he led the photonic networks and components research department. He and his team worked on wavelength-division multiplexed local and wide area networks and on components such as a fiber Fabry-Perot resonator, an arrayed waveguide grating router, and an erbium-doped fiber amplifier.

Among his best-known books are An Introduction to Electrooptic Devices (Academic Press, 1974) and the second through sixth editions in the Optical Fiber Telecommunications (OFT) series (Academic Press/Elsevier, 1988–2013), which chronicled the exciting evolution of the field of optical fiber communications by the R&D community. Working on the editions brought Ivan great joy and enabled him to use his love of and skill in writing, to help explore the most significant technical issues, and to interact with the best people in the field. The book series itself is a tribute to his effort, leadership, wisdom, and insight. He coedited three of the books with another luminary, Tingye Li; they were lifelong friends and colleagues and shared much affection and admiration for each other.

Ivan received many awards for his contributions to photonics, including the 1995 Charles Hard Townes Award and the 2011 Frederic Ives Medal from the Optical Society (OSA), the 2010 Photonics Award and 2013 Edison Medal from the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), and the 1997 John Tyndall Award from IEEE/OSA.

After he retired from Bell Labs, he served as an IEEE congressional fellow in 1996, and in 1999 he was a senior science advisor to OSA. He enjoyed his last years living in San Francisco with his wife, Florence, and being an adjunct professor at the University of California, Berkeley, where he took great pleasure interacting with the bright, curious, and friendly students.

Reflecting on his career, Ivan considered himself very lucky to have been at Bell Labs during its heyday. He was fond of saying, “Over the years, I have benefited from many happy coincidences and lucky choices. Indeed, luck plays an important part in any career. Still, luck is not enough. I had to be in

Suggested Citation:"IVAN P. KAMINOW." National Academy of Engineering. 2019. Memorial Tributes: Volume 22. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25543.
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Suggested Citation:"IVAN P. KAMINOW." National Academy of Engineering. 2019. Memorial Tributes: Volume 22. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25543.
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Page 168
Suggested Citation:"IVAN P. KAMINOW." National Academy of Engineering. 2019. Memorial Tributes: Volume 22. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25543.
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Page 169
Suggested Citation:"IVAN P. KAMINOW." National Academy of Engineering. 2019. Memorial Tributes: Volume 22. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25543.
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This is the 22nd Volume in the series Memorial Tributes compiled by the National Academy of Engineering as a personal remembrance of the lives and outstanding achievements of its members and foreign associates. These volumes are intended to stand as an enduring record of the many contributions of engineers and engineering to the benefit of humankind. In most cases, the authors of the tributes are contemporaries or colleagues who had personal knowledge of the interests and the engineering accomplishments of the deceased. Through its members and foreign associates, the Academy carries out the responsibilities for which it was established in 1964.

Under the charter of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering was formed as a parallel organization of outstanding engineers. Members are elected on the basis of significant contributions to engineering theory and practice and to the literature of engineering or on the basis of demonstrated unusual accomplishments in the pioneering of new and developing fields of technology. The National Academies share a responsibility to advise the federal government on matters of science and technology. The expertise and credibility that the National Academy of Engineering brings to that task stem directly from the abilities, interests, and achievements of our members and foreign associates, our colleagues and friends, whose special gifts we remember in this book.

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