Dr. Peter Schultz has been inducted into the Inventors Hall of Fame… (Valley News)

The June 16, 2012 Valley News reports that Peter Schultz, a scientist who has lived in Essex since 1999 has been honored for his work at Corning Glass Works (now Corning Incorporated). Here is an excerpt of the article recognizing Schultz for his technological innovation.

Corning Incorporated recently announced that it had received a Milestone Award in Electrical Engineering and Computing from the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) for the invention of low-loss optical fiber, which played a pivotal role in changing the way the world communicates…

Low-loss optical fiber was invented by three Corning scientists – Dr. Robert Maurer, Dr. Peter Schultz, and Dr. Donald Keck–after representatives of the British Post Office came to Corning in the mid-1960s seeking assistance in creating pure glass fiber optics.

In recognition of this achievement, Drs. Maurer, Schultz, and Keck have been inducted into the Inventors Hall of Same and were awarded the National Medal of Technology in 2000. (Valley News)

This is the highest honor granted by the President of the United States to America’s leading inventors and innovators that have made lasting contributions to enhancing America’s competitiveness and standard of living. Corning scientists have received this prestigious award four times, which is a remarkable accomplishment. (Corning Optical Fiber)

Four decades ago when Schultz and his colleagues were tasked with inventing highly refined fiber optics capable of transmitting signals at great speeds across great distances, they they were ambitious, trailblazing pioneers. But they probably never imagined that their discoveries “would revolutionize the global telecommunications industry.”

Although the fiber-optic race was well underway when Schultz joined Maurer’s team at Corning, optical fiber was not yet a deploy-able technology. Teams of scientists all around the world were racing to maximize fiber optic strength and minimize data/light loss.

The crucial attenuation limit of 20 dB/km was first achieved in 1970, by researchers Robert D. Maurer, Donald Keck, Peter C. Schultz, and Frank Zimar working for American glass maker Corning Glass Works, now Corning Incorporated. They demonstrated a fiber with 17 dB/km attenuation by doping silica glass with titanium. A few years later they produced a fiber with only 4 dB/km attenuation using germanium dioxide as the core dopant. Such low attenuation ushered in optical fiber telecommunication. (Wikipedia)

Today recognized as the “co-inventor of the fiber optics now used worldwide for telecommunications“, Schultz was also Continuing Engineering Program Professor at George Washington University (1976-1994); Visiting Professor at Cornell University (1978-1984); Visiting Professor at University of Virginia (1988-1998); President of Heraeus Tenevo Inc (1988 to 2001); Chief Technical Officer North America for Heraeus Holding GmbH; and President of BioSensor Inc. (current). Today Peter Schultz and his wife Mary Anne are residents of St. Thomas, USVI and Essex, NY.