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Who invented the EDFA?
Two fat wodges of paper landed on my desk earlier this week telling me that optical networking researchers Emmanuel Desurvire and Randy Giles, both formerly with Bell Labs, and David Payne from the University of Southampton, UK, have been named as finalists for the Millennium Technology Prize for their work on developing Erbium Doped-Fiber Amplifiers (EDFAs).
EDFAs, of course, are a key component of optical networks, which boost the power of optical signals without using electronics. They made the first long-distance subsea communications links possible.
Judging by the thickness of those wodges of paper, the prize organizers (and their PR teams) have put some effort into researching the nominees. All the same, a dispute seems to have arisen over on Light Reading about who really did invent the EDFA.
Important discoveries often have many contributors, and honouring just a few people is bound to put some noses out of joint. What about, for instance, the two other authors on Payne’s early research paper on EDFAs, who aren’t included in the nomination?
The “EDFA inventors” are competing against Sir Alec Jeffreys from the University of Leicester, UK, who invented DNA fingerprinting, Andrew Viterbi, after whom the Viterbi Algorithm is named, and Robert Langer from MIT in the US, who developed biomaterials for controlled drug release and tissue regeneration. The winner will be revealed on 11 June.
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