Federico Capasso

Federico Capasso (* June 24, 1949 in Rome) is an Italian- American physicist.

Capasso received his doctorate at the University of Rome (La Sapienza ) in 1973, then did research in fiber optics at the Fondazione Bordoni in Rome, before he went in 1976 at Bell Laboratories in the USA. In 1984 he was there Distinguished Member of the Technical Staff in 1997 and Fellow. 1987 to 2000 he was head of the Semiconductor Physics Research Department and 2000 to 2002 he was vice president for research in physics. In 2003 he became Robert Wallace Professor of Applied Physics at Harvard University.

Capasso is known for the development of the quantum cascade laser, the original idea of the Russians Rudolf Kazarinov and Robert Suris comes (1971).

In 2004 he received the Arthur L. Schawlow Prize for Laser - Physics and 2005, the King Faisal Prize. In 2000 he was awarded the Willis E. Lamb Award ( with Alfred Y. Cho ), 2004, he received the Edison Medal of the IEEE, 2010 the Berthold Leibinger Future Prize and also the RW Wood Prize of the Optical Society of America.

He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the European Academy of Sciences and an honorary member of the Franklin Institute and the support of the Wetherill Medal. He holds honorary doctorates from the University of Bologna.

Capasso holds 50 patents ( 2009). 2005 his autobiography Avventure di un designer quantico appeared ( Di Renzo Editore).

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