Peter C. Schultz, Ph.D. (born 1942), is co-inventor of the

fiber optics 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 means t ...

now used worldwide for

telecommunication Telecommunication is the transmission of information by various types of technologies over wire, radio, optical, or other electromagnetic systems. It has its origin in the desire of humans for communication over a distance greater than that ...

s. He is retired President (1988 to 2001) of Heraeus Tenevo Inc., a $200 million technical glass manufacturer specializing in fiber optics and semiconductor markets, and retired Chief Technical Officer North America for Heraeus Holding GmbH (the $6 billion German parent company). In 2001, he was elected as a member into 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 invention and development of manufacturing methods and glass compositions for low-attenuation glass fibers for optical communication.

Biography

He was born in 1942 in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

to a Czech-American mother and German-American father. Schultz graduated in 1960 from

Scotch Plains-Fanwood High School Scotch Plains-Fanwood High School (or SPFHS) is a comprehensive regional four-year public high school in Union County, New Jersey, United States, which serves students in ninth through twelfth grades from the Township of Scotch Plains and the ...

Union County, New Jersey Union County is a county in the northern part of the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the county's population was 575,345, making it the seventh-most populous of New Jersey's 21 counties. Its county seat is Elizabeth.

.Staff
"New inductees to Scotch Plains-Fanwood H.S. Hall of Fame"
''Suburban News'', October 9, 2014. Accessed June 18, 2016. "Peter Schultz. Class of 1960. He invented an optical fiber which is the basis for the Internet." He attended

Rutgers University Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's College, and was ...

, where he earned a BS in Engineering. He and his wife Mary Anne are residents of St. Thomas, USVI and have a second home in Essex, NY. They have four grown children and four grandchildren.

Academic career

He has taught at

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to tea ...

(Visiting Professor Materials Science 1978-1984),

George Washington University , mottoeng = "God is Our Trust" , established = , type = Private federally chartered research university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $2.8 billion (2022) , presi ...

(Continuing Engineering Program Professor 1976-1994) and

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United States, with highly selective ad ...

(Visiting Professor of Darden School 1988-1998). He has extensive legal experience as an expert witness in patent defense.

Other activities

Since 2001 he has provided consulting services to several companies (including Intel, SEMATECH International, Yazaki, Furukawa, IMRA and SPI Lasers plc) and expert witness for several law firms, through Peter Schultz Consulting, LLC. He serves as senior advisor and board member of OFS (the Lucent fiber optics business unit acquired by Furukawa in 2001). He also serves as a board member of CBN Connect Inc., a non-profit company providing an open access broadband fiber-to-the-home system to the Adirondack region of NY. He is also president of a start-up company (BioSensor Inc., founded in 1997) developing a non-invasive fiber optic sensor to measure blood glucose for diabetics, based on Russian technology. He is a member of the Selection Committee for the

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 a board member of 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 ...

. Peter Schultz holds 26 patents, has written over 20 research papers and is an expert in

fused silica Fused quartz, fused silica or quartz glass is a glass consisting of almost pure silica (silicon dioxide, SiO2) in amorphous (non- crystalline) form. This differs from all other commercial glasses in which other ingredients are added which ch ...

glasses.

Awards and honors

In 1993 he was inducted into the

and in 2000 he received the

from U.S. President

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and again ...

for this accomplishment (the highest technology award of the US government). In 2000 the award was called National Medal of Technology. He was elected to member of the

in 2001. He is the recipient of numerous other awards including the International Glass Science Award (1977),

SPIE SPIE (formerly the Society of Photographic Instrumentation Engineers, later the Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers) is an international not-for-profit professional society for optics and photonics technology, founded in 1955. It ...

Technology Achievement Award (1981), ASM Engineering Materials Achievement Award (1983), First American Innovators Award (US Dept. of Commerce 1995),

Distinguished Alumni (2000), the Czech Gold Medal for Achievement (President Havel 2002), 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 ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schultz, Peter C. 1942 births Living people National Medal of Technology recipients Members of the United States National Academy of Engineering People from Brooklyn Scotch Plains-Fanwood High School alumni People from Union County, New Jersey Rutgers University alumni Fiber optics Fellows of the American Ceramic Society