Herwig Kogelnik

Adjunct Photonics Systems Research Vice President, Lucent Technologies Bell Laboratories

Most Important Technology of the Last 40 Years:

Photo/info: photonics and information.

Most Important Technology for the Coming Decade:

Bio/info: biology and information technology.

Technology That has Evolved in a Surprising Way:

The growth of the Internet.

"Computer power and optical transmission power have scaled up now, for 20 to 30 years, by about a factor of 100 every 10 years. Optical fiber now transmits two and a half terabits per fiber per second. That's 33 million digital voice connections. There is no other set of technologies where this has happened. And it would be foolish to predict that it will suddenly stop, although it will take amazing breakthroughs to keep it going."