Robert D. Maurer (born July 20, 1924) is an American industrial

physicist A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate cau ...

noted for his leadership in the invention of

optical fiber An optical fiber, or optical fibre in Commonwealth English, is a flexible, transparent fiber made by drawing glass ( silica) or plastic to a diameter slightly thicker than that of a human hair. Optical fibers are used most often as a mea ...

. In 1979, Maurer was elected a member of the

National Academy of Engineering The National Academy of Engineering (NAE) is an American nonprofit, non-governmental organization. The National Academy of Engineering is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of ...

for contributions to the technology of low-loss fibers for optical communication.

Early life

Maurer was born either in

Arkadelphia, Arkansas Arkadelphia is a city in Clark County, Arkansas, United States. As of the 2010 census, the population was 10,714. The city is the county seat of Clark County. It is situated at the foothills of the Ouachita Mountains. Two universities, Hender ...

, or by other accounts in

Richmond Heights, Missouri Richmond Heights is a city in St. Louis County, Missouri. It is an inner-ring suburb of St. Louis, Missouri, United States. The population was 8,603 at the 2010 census. According to Robert L. Ramsay, the name was suggested by Robert E. Lee, who ...

. In 1943 he enlisted in the

United States Army Reserve The United States Army Reserve (USAR) is a reserve force of the United States Army. Together, the Army Reserve and the Army National Guard constitute the Army element of the reserve components of the United States Armed Forces. Since July 2020 ...

and began studies at the

University of Arkansas The University of Arkansas (U of A, UArk, or UA) is a public land-grant research university in Fayetteville, Arkansas. It is the flagship campus of the University of Arkansas System and the largest university in the state. Founded as Arkansas ...

. He was quickly called up for active service, and studied preengineering for about one year at the

Huntsville, Texas Huntsville is a city in and the county seat of Walker County, Texas. The population was 45,941 as of the 2020 census. It is the center of the Huntsville micropolitan area. Huntsville is in the East Texas Piney Woods on Interstate 45 and home ...

, state college. In 1944 he shipped overseas with the

99th infantry division The 99th Infantry Division was formed in 1942 and deployed overseas in 1944. The "Checkerboard" or "Battle Babies" division landed at the French port of Le Havre and proceeded northeast to Belgium. During the heavy fighting in the Battle of the ...

for combat in France and Belgium along the German border. He was wounded by a

landmine A land mine is an explosive weapon, explosive device concealed under or on the ground and designed to destroy or disable enemy targets, ranging from combatants to vehicles and tanks, as they pass over or near it. Such a device is typically d ...

, spending more than 20 months in the hospital before receiving a disability discharge with

Purple Heart The Purple Heart (PH) is a United States military decoration awarded in the name of the President to those wounded or killed while serving, on or after 5 April 1917, with the U.S. military. With its forerunner, the Badge of Military Merit, ...

. Supported by the GI Bill, Maurer returned in 1946 to the

to study

chemical engineering Chemical engineering is an engineering field which deals with the study of operation and design of chemical plants as well as methods of improving production. Chemical engineers develop economical commercial processes to convert raw materials int ...

, but quickly switched to

physics Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which r ...

. He graduated with a B.S. in physics in 1948, then performed graduate work at

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...

, where he measured second

sound velocity The speed of sound is the distance travelled per unit of time by a sound wave as it propagates through an elastic medium. At , the speed of sound in air is about , or one kilometre in or one mile in . It depends strongly on temperature as wel ...

liquid helium Liquid helium is a physical state of helium at very low temperatures at standard atmospheric pressures. Liquid helium may show superfluidity. At standard pressure, the chemical element helium exists in a liquid form only at the extremely low temp ...

. He took his orals in summer 1951, and graduated with a physics PhD in the winter class.

Corning

In 1952 Maurer joined the physics department of

Corning Glass Works Corning Incorporated is an American multinational technology company that specializes in specialty glass, ceramics, and related materials and technologies including advanced optics, primarily for industrial and scientific applications. The co ...

, becoming manager of its applied physics group in 1960, and ultimately research fellow in 1978. He retired from Corning Incorporated in 1989. Around 1966 Maurer learned of

Charles K. Kao Sir Charles Kao Kuen Charles K. Kao was elected in 1990
as a memb ...

's pioneering work in optical fibers at the

Standard Telephones and Cables Standard Telephones and Cables Ltd (later STC plc) was a British manufacturer of telephone, telegraph, radio, telecommunications, and related equipment. During its history, STC invented and developed several groundbreaking new technologies incl ...

company in the United Kingdom, and initiated a project to develop such fibers at Corning. In 1970 Maurer and his colleagues Donald Keck and Peter C. Schultz designed and produced the first fiber with optical losses low enough for use in telecommunications by a novel process of depositing titania-doped

silica Silicon dioxide, also known as silica, is an oxide of silicon with the chemical formula , most commonly found in nature as quartz and in various living organisms. In many parts of the world, silica is the major constituent of sand. Silica is ...

inside a quartz tube using a flame-hydrolysis process and sintering, then fusing it to draw into fiber. They demonstrated optical loss as low as 20 dB/km, which for the first time indicated a practical technology.

Honours and awards

Maurer is an elected member of the

(1979) and inducted into the

National Inventors Hall of Fame The National Inventors Hall of Fame (NIHF) is an American not-for-profit organization, founded in 1973, which recognizes individual engineers and inventors who hold a U.S. patent of significant technology. Besides the Hall of Fame, it also oper ...

(1993), and a fellow of the

American Ceramic Society The American Ceramic Society (ACerS) is a non-profit professional organization for the ceramics community, with a focus on scientific research, emerging technologies, and applications in which ceramic materials are an element. It is located in W ...

, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, and American Physical Society, and has received numerous honors including the

American Institute of Physics The American Institute of Physics (AIP) promotes science and the profession of physics, publishes physics journals, and produces publications for scientific and engineering societies. The AIP is made up of various member societies. Its corpora ...

' 1978 Prize for Industrial Physics, the 1978 IEEE Morris N. Liebmann Memorial Award, the Swedish Academy of Engineering's 1979 L.M. Ericsson International Prize for Telecommunications, an honorary LL.D. Degree from the

in 1980, the

Industrial Research Institute Innovation Research Interchange (IRI) is a division of the National Association of Manufacturers, a nonprofit association based in Washington, D. C., United States. IRI was founded as a private non-profit in 1938 and merged with the NAM in 2022. ...

's 1986 Achievement Award, the 1987

John Tyndall Award The John Tyndall Award is given to the "individual who has made pioneering, highly significant, or continuing technical or leadership contributions to fiber optics technology". The award is named after John Tyndall (1820-1893), who demonstrated ...

from

IEEE Lasers and Electro-Optics Society The IEEE Photonics Society, formerly the IEEE Lasers and Electro-Optics Society (LEOS), is a society of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), focused on the scientific and engineering knowledge about the field of quantum ele ...

and

Optical Society of America Optica (formerly known as The Optical Society (OSA) and before that as the Optical Society of America) is a professional society of individuals and companies with an interest in optics and photonics. It publishes journals and organizes conference ...

, the 1989 Naval Research Laboratory Citation, the American Physics Society's 1989

International Prize for New Materials The James C. McGroddy Prize for New Materials is a prize that has been awarded annually by the American Physical Society since 1975, but was only given that name following its endowment by IBM in 1999. Prior to that it was known as the Internation ...

, the 1999

Charles Stark Draper Prize The U.S. National Academy of Engineering annually awards the Draper Prize, which is given for the advancement of engineering and the education of the public about engineering. It is one of three prizes that constitute the "Nobel Prizes of Enginee ...

, the 2000

National Medal of Technology The National Medal of Technology and Innovation (formerly the National Medal of Technology) is an honor granted by the President of the United States to American inventors and innovators who have made significant contributions to the development ...

, and the 2007 NEC

C&C Prize The NEC C&C Prize ( ja, C&C賞) is an award given by the NEC Corporation "in recognition of outstanding contributions to research and development and/or pioneering work in the fields of semiconductors, computers, telecommunications and their integr ...

Patents

Maurer holds 16 patents, including: * US Patent 3,659,915: Fused Silica Optical Waveguide; Method of Producing Optical Waveguide Fibers * US Patent 3,711,262: Optical Fibers

Early life

Corning

Honours and awards

Patents

References

Further reading