RARE "Optical Fiber" Robert D. Maurer Hand Written Letter COA For Sale

Dr.Robert D. Maurer(bornJuly 20, 1924) is an American industrialphysicistnoted for his leadership in the inventionofoptical fiber. In 1979, Maurer was electeda member of theNational Academy of Engineeringforcontributions to the technology of low-loss fibers for optical communication. Maurerwas born either inArkadelphia, Arkansas, orby other accounts inRichmond Heights, Missouri.In 1943 he enlisted in theUnited States Army Reserveandbegan studies at theUniversity of Arkansas. Hewas quickly called up for active service, and studied preengineering for aboutone year at theHuntsville, Texas, statecollege. In 1944 he shipped overseas with the99th infantry divisionforcombat in France and Belgium along the German border. He was wounded by alandmine, spending more than 20 months in the hospital beforereceiving a disability discharge withPurple Heart. Supported by theGI Bill, Maurer returned in 1946 to theUniversity of Arkansastostudychemical engineering, butquickly switched tophysics. He graduated with a B.S. inphysics in 1948, then performed graduate work atMassachusettsInstitute of Technology, where he measured secondsound velocityinliquid helium. He took his orals in summer 1951, and graduatedwith a physics PhD in the winter class. In 1952 Maurer joined the physicsdepartment ofCorning Glass Works,becoming manager of its applied physics group in 1960, and ultimately researchfellow in 1978. He retired fromCorning Incorporatedin1989. Around 1966 Maurer learned ofCharles K. Kao's pioneering work in optical fibers attheStandard Telephones and Cablescompanyin the United Kingdom, and initiated a project to develop such fibers atCorning. In 1970 Maurer and his colleaguesDonald KeckandPeter C. Schultzdesigned and produced the first fiberwith optical losses low enough for use in telecommunications by a novel processof depositing titania-dopedsilicainside a quartz tube using aflame-hydrolysis process and sintering, then fusing it to draw into fiber. Theydemonstrated optical loss as low as 20dB/km, which for the first timeindicated a practical technology. Maurer is an elected member of theNational Academy of Engineering(1979)and inducted into theNational Inventors Hall of Fame(1993),and a fellow of theAmerican Ceramic Society,Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, andAmerican Physical Society,and has received numerous honors including theAmerican Institute of Physics'1978 Prize for Industrial Physics, the 1978IEEE Morris N.Liebmann Memorial Award, theSwedish Academy of Engineering's 1979 L.M. EricssonInternational Prize for Telecommunications, an honorary LL.D. Degree fromtheUniversity of Arkansasin1980, theIndustrial Research Institute's1986 Achievement Award, the 1987John Tyndall AwardfromIEEE Lasers andElectro-Optics SocietyandOptical Society of America,the 1989Naval Research LaboratoryCitation,theAmerican Physics Society's1989InternationalPrize for New Materials, the 1999Charles Stark Draper Prize,the 2000National Medal of Technology,and the 2007 NECC&C Prize.