Federico Capasso, Alfred Cho honored with 2015 Rumford Prize

14 December 2015

Federico Capasso
Federico Capasso

SPIE Fellow Federico Capasso and longtime SPIE author and conference participant Alfred Cho have been named co-recipients of the 2015 Rumford Prize by the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. The award was announced on 8 December, and honors their contributions to the field of laser technology.

Capasso is the Robert L. Wallace Professor of Applied Physics and Vinton Hayes Senior Research Fellow in Electrical Engineering at Harvard University's John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. Cho retired in 2001 from Alcatel-Lucent Bell Labs.

Capasso and Cho invented the quantum cascade laser at Bell Labs in 1994.

First awarded in 1839, the Rumford Prize recognizes contributions to the fields of heat and light.

Harvard University press release

SPIE Newsroom video interview with Federico Capasso