The Florida Inventors Hall of Fame annually honors a small selection of Florida inventors whose achievements have advanced the quality of life for Floridians, the state and the nation. Honorees are selected by a committee of distinguished experts in the relevant fields of innovation. Bass is the fifth 麻豆原创 professor to receive the distinction and one of eight members of the 2019 class who will be inducted on Sept. 20 in Tampa. This is the fourth consecutive year that a 麻豆原创 faculty member has been selected.

鈥淎ll great inventions begin with a question. Throughout my career, I have had the pleasure of answering many of those questions alongside some of the brightest minds in the medical and scientific research fields,鈥� said Bass, an expert in the areas of lasers and optics and a professor emeritus of optics within 麻豆原创鈥檚 . 鈥淲orking hand-in-hand with those professionals in the truest sense of the word 鈥榩artnership,鈥� we were able to make life-changing breakthroughs that helped real people. I am proud of my career鈥檚 accomplishments, and I am honored to be inducted into the Florida Inventors Hall of Fame.鈥�

Utilizing his expertise, Bass played an integral role in the development of the Fiber Optics Laser Light Delivery system, which uses fiber optics to treat internal bleeding and tumors. He introduced the idea of using fibers to reach impacted areas of the body and cauterize the affected area with laser light. His approach helped innovate how doctors treat internal injuries and led to one of the earliest patents for fiber optic delivery of laser light systems inside the human body.

With his knowledge of spectroscopy, Bass created a new method, utilizing infrared lighting, for finding nanoparticles surrounding cancerous cells. Prior to this method, nanoparticles were difficult to locate with even the most powerful of microscopes. Bass鈥檚 innovation assisted cancer researchers with creating more effective treatments.

Together with colleagues at 麻豆原创鈥檚 CREOL, Bass created a new means to amplify the light in fiber optics, allowing significant increases in the amount of information a fiber optic communications system can carry. Working with other 麻豆原创 researchers, Bass also engaged in interdisciplinary research on several problems, such as phase change cooling of laser diode bars.聽 This effort led to an important patent that deals with how to manage the light emitted by a bar of diode lasers.

Bass鈥檚 work has resulted in 34 U.S. patents and nearly 200 published papers in peer reviewed journals. Among other honors, he was awarded the 2014 R.W. Wood Prize from the Optical Society of America and was appointed editor-in-chief of the Handbook of Optics, Second and Third Editions, which sold more than 11,000 copies. In 1979, Bass was honored as the inaugural recipient of the USC School of Engineering Distinguished Researcher Award.

Bass has served as a faculty member and researcher at 麻豆原创 for more than 30 years. He arrived in 1988 as the University鈥檚 Vice President for Research, serving in that role until 1992. In addition to professor emeritus of optics, he also has been a professor of electrical engineering and physics, as well as a professor of optics, physics, and electrical and computer engineering. Now in 鈥榩hased retirement,鈥� Bass continues to teach a selection of courses at 麻豆原创, he says for the love of teaching and the university鈥檚 students.

鈥淭eaching has been a genuine pleasure that I have had the privilege of experiencing,鈥� said Bass, who devised the interdisciplinary course The Culture of Science in the 1990s, teaching it to undergraduate honors and graduate-level science students. 鈥溌槎乖� is a unique institution filled with unique people, and it has been an honor to be part of this university for all of these years.鈥�

Prior to coming to 麻豆原创, Bass held a number of prominent positions at the University of Southern California, including director of the USC Center for Laser Studies from 1977 to 1984. He also taught at the University of Michigan, the University of California at Berkeley, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Additionally, Bass was a senior research scientist at the Raytheon Company.

An elected Life Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), Bass is also a fellow of the Optical Society of America, the Laser Institute of America, and the National Academy of Inventors. He is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, a member of Tau Beta Pi National Engineering Society, the Society of the Sigma Xi, the Royal B. Sorenson Society. Bass earned a bachelor鈥檚 degree in physics from Carnegie Mellon University, as well as a master鈥檚 and doctorate degree in physics from the University of Michigan.

In addition to Bass, 麻豆原创 faculty members in the Hall of Fame are Shin-Tson Wu, inducted in 2014; M.J. Soileau, inducted in 2016; Issa Batarseh, inducted in 2017; and Sudipta Seal, inducted in 2018.

Michael Bass was elected to the list of AAAS fellows by his peers in the organization. It鈥檚 an honor reserved for those who have made scientifically or socially distinguished efforts to advance science or its applications.

The AAAS is the world鈥檚 largest general scientific society and publisher of the journal Science, which has the largest paid circulation of any peer-reviewed general science journal in the world. The AAAS was founded in 1848 and includes nearly 250 affiliated societies and academies of science, serving 10 million individuals. The nonprofit organization鈥檚 mission is to 鈥渁dvance science and serve society鈥� through initiatives in science policy, international programs, science education and public engagement.

Bass, who came to the 麻豆原创 in 1987, is an emeritus professor of optics, physics and electrical engineering in the College of Optics & Photonics. From 1987-1992, he served as 麻豆原创鈥檚 vice president for research.

Bass specializes in lasers and the properties of optical materials. He specifically works on solid-state lasers and systems, which is a $1 billion industry with applications in everything from research to medicine. One of his inventions was to use fiber optics to deliver laser light inside the body to treat a variety of problems such as bleeding ulcers. Other inventions have been connected with fighting cancer-causing cells, improving displays and extracting light efficiently from diode lasers. 聽He holds 34 patents.

鈥淏eing elected a Fellow of AAAS is a special honor for me.聽 AAAS involves scientists and engineers from all different areas of specialization,鈥� Bass said. 鈥淛oining the fellows of this society is recognition of my research and teaching of both graduate and undergraduate students.鈥�

Bass and other newly inducted fellows will be formally honored in February at an AAAS meeting in Boston.

Being named an AAAS fellow is the latest in a long list of honors for Bass. He is a life fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, the Optical Society of America and the Laser Institute of America. He was elected a foreign member of the Russian National Academy of Engineering Science in 1994, is the 2014 recipient of the R. W. Wood Prize of the Optical Society of America and a 2013 Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors.

Physicists have developed the Standard Model to describe everything we know about the universe from quantum mechanics dealing with the incredibly small subatomic world, to gravity and cosmology that deal with the universe on the very large scale.

The Standard Model is amazingly accurate when explaining and predicting observed phenomena. It contains theories that are incredibly accurate when predicting the observed behaviors of quarks, atoms, light sources, cannon balls, planets, stars, galaxies and the beginning of the universe as we observe them, only if certain numbers are exactly what they are measured to be.

If these numbers are not what they are, the model doesn鈥檛 work.

Perhaps another model is needed 鈥� however, if the numbers are not what they are, stars don鈥檛 exist the way they must to cook up the elements that are necessary to produce such strange beings as us. We are a part of the universe that is around to ask what had to happen to enable us to exist.

To answer such a question we first have to ask how the universe came into existence and how did it develop into what we see around us today. All the evidence from our astronomy and astrophysics points to a universe that was born about 13.8 billion years ago from a quantum fluctuation of incredibly hot energy and grew into everything in less than a second. In the three minutes that followed, atoms of hydrogen, deuterium, helium and a little bit of lithium were formed as the universe cooled.

That鈥檚 all the atoms that were formed in the beginning. Clearly there were not all of the atoms needed to produce us. There was no carbon, no oxygen, no calcium and no iron, to name a few essentials to life as we know it. So what had to happen next?

Time had to pass and the universe had to cool off some more.

When it did, gravity could take effect in places when the gas density was a little higher than elsewhere and pull surrounding gas into a collapsing ball. As it collapsed it got hot enough so that nuclear fusion started. The first stars were born.

When the first stars died they seeded the galaxies in which they existed with lots of higher atomic number atoms that had been cooked up through nuclear fusion. These atoms became part of the next generations of stars and so in the third generation of star formation, the sun, a very ordinary main sequence star, was born about 4.5 billion years ago, in a very ordinary spiral galaxy.

The material left over around the sun also contained these atoms so when some of it coalesced into planets, they contained these atoms.

On the third planet out from the sun these atoms formed molecules that became complex as time went by. After about 1 billion years, with the help of energy radiated from the sun and generated by fusion reactions in the planet鈥檚 core, there were molecules that could form copies of themselves 鈥� and biology started.

Today the earth has lots of biology on it, including us thinking about how all this could come about.

For all the steps described above to have happened as outlined, such numbers as the gravitational constant, the charge on the electron, the mass of the electron, the difference between the proton and neutron masses, the density of mass in the universe, the mass of the neutrino, Planck鈥檚 constant, and the speed of light must be what we have measured them to be. For them all to be what they are by random chance is the very unlikely probability of 1 part in 10 to the power of 234. You certainly would not bet on these odds.

So how did we wind up in such an unlikely universe?

Some of those who believe in God say that God set these numbers at the beginning so that the universe would develop to allow His creations to exist. This is a way in which believers in an all-powerful god can connect their beliefs with the facts of science.

Others who consider the Bible literally true have more difficulty making the connection. They might argue that an all-powerful god can do anything he wanted to do and set the numbers at whatever values he wished at any time he wished. A god with that degree of capriciousness could have made the numbers that we measure different at different times.

By telescopically viewing distant galaxies we are seeing them as they were millions or billions of years ago and we find no evidence that the numbers were any different then from what they are now. This is a test of the belief that a god played with the numbers. It is a powerful example of the difference between science and belief because science deals with what is testable and belief does not.

Those who hold the belief that God can set the numbers at any value he wishes will continue to hold that belief claiming that the scientific test was incomplete or incorrect. 聽Others will see that science and their beliefs are compatible. 聽The inherent difference between science and religion-belief will continue to be misunderstood by the large majority of people.聽聽

Some physicists claim there is a multiverse, an infinity of universes, and we are in one that has the right numbers for us to exist. Other physicists studying string theory claim the extra dimensions necessary for string theory to be consistent are rolled up in ways that determine the numbers.

It turns out that the number of ways of rolling up these extra dimensions can be very large, approaching infinity. Once again we are looking at ours being one of an infinity of universes.

In an infinity of universes there can be an infinity of universes having exactly the set of numbers that are needed to produce a universe such as ours.

As a consequence, our universe may not be as unique as we think.

Then again, except in science fiction stories, it is the only universe we will ever have, so let鈥檚 get used to it.

We should continue to study it, to try to understand it and to marvel at its beauty.

Michael Bass is a professor emeritus of optics at CREOL (Center for Research and Education in Optics and Lasers) in 麻豆原创鈥檚 College of Optics & Photonics. He can be reached at bass@creol.ucf.edu.

Just one example will serve to show you what I mean. In late spring of 1960, Hughes Aircraft engineer and physicist Theodore Maiman demonstrated the first laser. It was a very simple affair in which a spiral flashlamp was used to excite chromium ions in a rod-shaped sapphire crystal with polished, parallel and silver-coated end faces. It was a flashlamp-pumped ruby laser.

By the time I began working with a laser in the spring of 1961 at least one company was selling a commercial version of Maiman鈥檚 laser. This very simple device was enabling the birth of modern optics.

Meanwhile in China, at the premier optics institute in the country, it took over a year to prepare their first version of Maiman鈥檚 laser. I could not find out if it had ever been used in a scientific experiment. It is now on display at the institute and it is clear why it took so long to prepare it. The laser has every adjustment conceivable and is machined beautifully. It is what we would call over-engineered. This means that the builders didn鈥檛 understand that a flashlamp-pumped ruby laser did not have to be so complex and rather than risk failure they put in every possible way to avoid it.

Unfortunately, China鈥檚 Great Leap Forward economic and social campaign in the late 50s and early 60s devastated science in that country so it wasn鈥檛 until the 1980s when the vast potential of its scientists could begin to express itself. That period and the tradition of fear of losing face seem to make scientists in China risk averse. It is too bad because they now have outstanding facilities and a great pool of talent that can be developed.

The United States is a country of risk takers. Often the risks fail but when they don鈥檛 you find Apple, Microsoft, Google, FedEx, Uber and so on. Don鈥檛 stop taking risks.

On a much smaller scale I can tell you about my son who became fed up with working in corporate America. He wanted to be his own boss.

About 19 years ago he quit his job and started a small magazine in Atlanta for the business and upscale traveler. It was never easy but he made it work. This magazine is now in Atlanta and Chicago and supports my son and his family.

He became known to the Kennesaw State University Business College and now is an adjunct professor in sales and marketing. Recently he started a consulting company. All of these efforts involve risk. But risk not taken is achievement never savored.

This fear of failure is still present in many places around the world. It can be seen in beautiful, clean, neat laboratories where not much is getting done.

My thesis advisor once told me that in such a laboratory it was painfully clear why nothing was getting done. Everyone there was too busy keeping the lab clean and the tools put away. That is not to say that laboratories should be a mess but they are places where ideas are tried out and some degree of disorder goes with that.

Another way that fear of risk becomes painfully evident is in the classroom when students don鈥檛 ask questions. There are reasons for this. One is that the instructor is so fantastically brilliant and the material was presented so clearly that there is no need to ask questions. That is never true.

Another is that the students don鈥檛 want to ask questions because they haven鈥檛 been paying attention. This is always true of some students in any class.

Then there are those students who were paying attention and who are curious about something but won鈥檛 ask a question because they are afraid of appearing to be ignorant in front of their fellow classmates and the instructor.

For such students I have the following comment: Which would you rather do: Ask a question and possibly appear ignorant or not ask a question and remain ignorant? The choice is yours.

Michael Bass is a professor emeritus of optics at CREOL (Center for Research and Education in Optics and Lasers) in 麻豆原创鈥檚 College of Optics & Photonics. He can be reached at bass@creol.ucf.edu.

Issa Batarseh, who has made significant technical contributions in the field of power electronics, and Guifang Li, a professor of optics and photonics who specializes in optical fiber communications, are 麻豆原创鈥檚 eighth and ninth members of the select academy.

Election to NAI Fellow status is a high professional distinction given to academic inventors who have demonstrated a prolific spirit of innovation in creating or facilitating outstanding inventions that have made a tangible impact on quality of life, economic development, and the welfare of society.

The class of 168 Fellows named today brings the total number of NAI Fellows to 582, representing more than 190 research universities and governmental and non-profit research institutions. The 2015 Fellows account for more than 5,300 issued U.S. patents, bringing the collective patents held by all NAI Fellows to more than 20,000. These academic luminaries have made a significant impact to the economy through innovative discoveries, creating startup companies, and enhancing the culture of academic invention.

Batarseh joined 麻豆原创 in 1991 and has distinguished himself by establishing the Florida Power Electronics Center, conducting significant scholarly research which has resulted in more than 100 published papers in refereed journals, and more than 200 refereed papers at international conferences. He is a Fellow of both the IEEE and the AAAS and, in 2004, received the Davis Productivity Award for Best Invention recognized by the State of Florida. He has graduated 42 Ph.D. students and more than 70 masters and undergraduate students.

Over the years, Batarseh has helped secure more than $12 million for his work in developing innovative power electronic systems to convert energy collected in solar panels into domestic electricity grids and similar topics in power electronics. He is also a founding partner of a start-up, Petra Solar, which is commercializing solar-electronics-conversion systems, and he has received 27 patents.

Li is the recipient of both the NSF Career award and the ONR Young Investigator Award, and is a fellow of IEEE, SPIE and the Optical Society of America. He is a deputy editor for Optics Express and an associate editor for Photonics Technology Letters.

His research interests include optical communication and networking, RF photonics and all-optical signal processing. He has collaborated widely with academic institutions and industry.

Li’s research, totaling $4.7 million, has focused on high-capacity optical fiber communication systems. He has been awarded 26 patents.

The NAI Fellows will be inducted April 15 as part of the fifth annual conference of the National Academy of Inventors at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in Alexandria, Va. Fellows will be presented with a trophy, medal, and rosette pin in honor of their outstanding accomplishments.

Other 麻豆原创 members of the academy are Leonid Glebov, Shin-Tson Wu, Michael Bass, and Peter Delfyett, all from the College of Optics & Photonics; MJ Soileau, vice president for research and commercialization; Sudipta Seal, NanoScience Technology Center and the College of Engineering & Computer Science; Tson Wu and Marwan Simaan from the College of Engineering & Computer Science.

However, in general, these are highly selective programs leaving the vast majority of students with minimal exposure to science or engineering. Many of their exposures range from 鈥淚 have to take it and I can forget it as soon as the course is over鈥� to thinking that the subjects are painfully dull and have no relevance to their lives. Consequently, in either case, most students graduating from high school and entering college or the work force are what I call scientifically illiterate.

In college, students who are not in the sciences or engineering must take some science classes as part of the general education program requirements. Though dedicated instructors doing their best often teach these classes, the students are only motivated by the 鈥淚 must take this class to graduate鈥� requirement. The subject not only turns them off, but they very likely forget the material moments after the final is taken.

So, the majority of people in this country who will use the amazing new technologies that are being developed and who will be asked to make decisions on scientific and engineering issues (solar energy, nuclear power, fracking, energy efficiency, genetically modified plants and foods, to name a few) are scientifically illiterate.

Sometime back I was in a group discussing the problem of keeping young children interested in science. One member of the group was a very experienced elementary school educator.

I will never forget her outline of the subject matter that would hold the attention of elementary school children. She said: 鈥淐hildren between ages 5 and 8 will love working on dinosaurs, from 8 to 11 you can keep them interested by space (rockets, satellites, Hubble, distant planets, the Big Bang and so on) but after 11 they will discover sex and you can鈥檛 distract them from that.鈥�

The point of this story is that to create a scientifically literate public it is necessary to identify how to get their attention and how to make the material stick with them beyond the final exam.

In the mid-1990s, together with a colleague from the philosophy department, I put together a course for The Burnett Honors College at 麻豆原创 called the Culture of Science. It dealt with the who, when, where, why and how science was done 鈥� and most importantly what effects science had on society and what effects society had on science.

This course proved extraordinarily successful and was given for six semesters instead of the three in the original proposal to the college. I have since given a somewhat modified version of this course for graduate students in the 麻豆原创 College of Optics & Photonics and other engineering or science departments. Notice that the course does not deal with the what of science. That already is taught very well in the existing classes in the various specialties.

Such a course places science and technology in the context of our world and deals with the impact of science. Some examples of this are the discussions I have with the students of such things as the internet or nuclear weapons or the early organized church鈥檚 problem with Galileo.

I also discuss pathological science, which is what happens when scientists become emotionally involved with a marginal or dubious phenomenon that if true would violate well-established scientific principles. If they were right, lots of money and prestigious prizes would come their way. This is called pathological science because the scientists are pathologically involved with it and cannot see their errors.

It is important that scientifically literate citizens be able to recognize this flaw. In the early 1990s, scientists in Utah thought they observed nuclear fusion in a quite standard electrolysis experiment. They dubbed it cold fusion, and if it were true it would have solved the world鈥檚 energy problems. Of course, it was not true.

I make it a point to discuss scientific ethics about being honest, doing meaningful experiments, reporting all the results and performing careful analyses. The class and I view the play 鈥淐openhagen鈥� to understand and discuss the pressures nuclear scientists experienced during the second World War. We also get into modern-day cosmology and this leads to discussion of the need for a God in the universe.

In my opinion, this type of course should be offered as part of the general-education program for undergraduates to satisfy their science requirements. Such courses dealing with the impacts of science and engineering just might result in more scientifically literate graduates.

Most people don鈥檛 have to know what makes an airplane fly but they should know how greatly airplanes have and will change our society. The same can be said for the internet or electric power.

Most people don鈥檛 have to know the details but they certainly should know the impacts. Their lifestyles and maybe their lives will depend on such knowledge.

Michael Bass is a professor emeritus of optics at CREOL (Center for Research and Education in Optics and Lasers) in 麻豆原创鈥檚 College of Optics & Photonics. He can be reached at bass@creol.ucf.edu.

But I am tired of people who portray themselves as somehow better environmentally than others just because they follow the latest trend without thinking it through. I want to point out glaring inconsistencies about such people and to describe some simple steps anyone can take to really reduce his or her impact on the environment.

For example, just changing out the old tungsten filament bulbs in one鈥檚 home for high-efficiency compact fluorescent or light-emitting diode (LED) bulbs makes a major impact on the environment by reducing your demand for energy. This, by the way, has been forced on us because by federal law after Jan. 1, 2014, no 40- and 60-watt tungsten filament bulbs, the most popular, can be manufactured in the United States. You can buy incandescent light bulbs but only for special purposes and they are expensive.

Now, however, consider the impact of compact fluorescent lamps. They all contain mercury. They all have a warning to dispose of them correctly but it鈥檚 likely that very few consumers do much more than put the lamps in the trash when they fail. So, being green in one way 鈥� using less energy 鈥� is not so green in two other ways: Handling mercury to make the compact fluorescent bulbs and disposing of them. High levels of exposure to mercury, a pollutant and neurotoxin, can harm the brain, heart, kidneys, lungs and immune system. There is always a price to pay.

How about those green electric cars. All you do is plug them in, let them charge up and you are ready to drive.

Guess what? The power that charges most electric cars around the country is mostly generated by burning coal. So those very green cars are powered by coal, adding greenhouse gases to the atmosphere. Fortunately, electric cars with a reasonable driving range are too expensive for most people.

You might say: 鈥淲ait a minute, my power is solar generated, not from coal.鈥� If the array is on your roof, you have to leave your electric car at home during the day to charge it. It can鈥檛 be in a parking lot at work or on campus. That reveals the major problem with solar power; it is only generated half the time. There is not yet an efficient way to store it for use at night.

When you consider solar power, don鈥檛 overlook the pollution produced while making the solar cells, and unless you have a huge roof it alone cannot charge your electric car. If you get solar power provided by the power company there is not only the manufacturing pollution there also is the huge swath of land taken over by the solar cell array. That land is certainly no longer in its natural state.

If you say your power comes from the wind, think again about the concerns. Consider the 320,000 birds and 800,000 bats that are killed each year by colliding with the blades of wind turbines now, and the estimated 1.4 million birds and many more bats if wind turbines ever reach the goal of 20 percent of our power. There is always a price to pay.

The best option today for a green-thinking person concerning transportation is a high-mileage gas auto, but watch out for the high-mileage gas car that gets good mileage by getting so small that it sacrifices safety. A hybrid car is a pretty good choice, but making and disposing of the batteries in electric and hybrid cars results in serious impacts on the environment. They require special chemicals and result in nasty waste. Again there is always a price to pay.

At home, small things can be done to be green that require very little effort, just a little thought.

For example, close the shades or curtains over windows where the sun comes in. This reduces the heat load on your air conditioning. It also saves your furniture and floors from being sun bleached. If you plan on remodeling, include double-pane windows.

Replace appliances or air conditioners with the most efficient models. All of this is simple, common sense. Above all, when the air conditioning is on, keep the doors and windows closed. Same thing goes for when you use the heat. These changes will also save money on your electric bill.

So, if you are or want to be green, do your research and do some of these simple, inexpensive but effective things. Don鈥檛 just preach about it.

If more of us took personal action, the environment would get better in a noticeable way.

Michael Bass is a professor emeritus of optics at CREOL (Center for Research and Education in Optics and Lasers) in 麻豆原创鈥檚 College of Optics & Photonics. He can be reached at bass@creol.ucf.edu.

I am quite sure that not many at 麻豆原创 would know that about 2015, with the exception of those at CREOL (麻豆原创鈥檚 Center for Research and Education in Optics and Lasers), the College of Optics & Photonics, a few in the College of Engineering & Computer Science, and some in the Science departments.

We live in a world made possible by light.

Our science and engineering of light and light technology have made it so reliable and ubiquitous that most people don鈥檛 think about how important it is.

With 2015 being the International Year of Light, events are being held around the world celebrating light and light technology. CREOL, 麻豆原创鈥檚 Center for Research and Education in Optics and Lasers, has emphasized it in its annual Industrial Affiliates meeting and when K-12 groups visit.

As part of this yearlong observance, I encourage everyone at 麻豆原创 to be more of a player in light and promote the optics industry. The university already has shown leadership through the establishment of its College of Optics and Photonics, the first college in the nation devoted to the subjects of light and photonics. The subjects are emphasized at some other U.S. universities, but generally within traditional departments.聽麻豆原创 was the first to give it the prominence it needed.

Perhaps we could plan light art shows on campus and off, or maybe one or more halftime programs could be light shows?

Light and the science and engineering of light deserve recognition, and here is why:

Let鈥檚 start with the obvious. Our homes and workplaces are illuminated by artificial light sources. These have evolved from Edison鈥檚 hot tungsten filament to the much more efficient compact fluorescent light bulbs and LED lights that are now gaining wide acceptance. So when you flip the switch to turn on a light you are experiencing a modern miracle of light.

An added benefit of improved lighting efficiency is a much-reduced heat load on our air conditioners. If you picture yourself as concerned for the environment, get rid of the old bulbs and install the new types. You have a chance to be consistent and do something for the environment just by installing more efficient lighting. It is easy to do and has an immediate impact.

Another example of light technology: Just imagine life without the bar code scanner in the grocery store.

A few years back my wife and I were in Venice, Italy, and stopped to buy some items in a small store that rang up items by hand. We found what we wanted, got in line to pay, and waited behind about 40 people for nearly 35 minutes while everyone鈥檚 purchases were totaled. This proved my philosophy: 鈥淭here were no good old days, just old days.鈥�

Consider the ever-present cell phone. Its components, the electronic chips and the liquid crystal display, can only be manufactured using ultra-high precision laser and optical equipment. The LCDs in cell phones, computers, televisions and autos are optical devices; a major modern light technology you would not want to be without.

In my opinion the most overlooked contribution of light to modern life is the worldwide optical communication system. It is made possible primarily by two critical optical devices: the diode laser and the fiber optic.

In 1966, electrical engineer and physicist Charles K. Kao published a paper on the concept of light confined in optical fibers for communications that would win him the 2009 Nobel Prize in Physics. Kao recognized that light would provide the required spectral bandwidth and suggested how to make an optical communications system. Every time you make a telephone call or use the Internet, you can thank him.

In 1970, the Corning Company was able to make an optical fiber with low enough loss so that it could confine laser light and transmit it over long distances. Engineers at Bell Laboratories found out how to make the diode laser rugged and reliable.

The stage was set for some sort of demonstration of optical communication.

It came in 1980 when two miracles took place emanating from Lake Placid, N.Y. The setting was the Winter Olympics, and in one miracle the U.S. Men鈥檚 Hockey team defeated the Soviet Union team. The other miracle was that the television broadcasts of those Olympics were transmitted on an optical fiber communication system.

Today, there are nearly 2 billion kilometers (about 1.25 billion miles) of optical fibers in the ground or under the seas, and hundreds of millions of diode lasers generating the light that carries the information that is your voice or your Internet chatter.

We use light to do our work, to communicate, to grow our crops, to entertain us and to keep us healthy. We should pay more attention to this important aspect of the modern world.

So tonight when you open your refrigerator to get a drink, pause for a moment and toast that light that is always there to help you find what you鈥檙e looking for.

Michael Bass is a聽professor emeritus of optics at CREOL (Center for Research and Education in Optics and Lasers) in 麻豆原创鈥檚 College of Optics & Photonics. He can be reached at bass@creol.ucf.edu.

The three have distinguished themselves for creating inventions in the areas of photonics and nanotechnology, which have everyday applications.

For their work, the National Academy of Inventors named Michael Bass, Peter J. Delfyett and Sudipta Seal, NAI Fellows for 2013.

Bass is an emeritus professor in the Center for Research and Education in Optics and Lasers (CREOL) electrical engineering and physics who specializes in lasers and the properties of optical materials. He specifically works on solid-state lasers and systems, which is a $1 billion industry with applications in everything from research to medicine. Bass joined 麻豆原创 in 1987. One of his inventions was to use fiber optics to deliver laser light inside the body to treat a variety of problems such as bleeding ulcers. Other inventions have been connected with fighting cancer-causing cells and improving visual displays and communications via fiber optics. He holds 36 patents.

Delfyett is a professor in CREOL and physics who specializes in ultrafast photonics. He holds the titles of trustee chair and Pegasus Professor, the highest honor a 麻豆原创 faculty member can earn. Delfyett has created various inventions and is working on the development of lasers that produce many colors simultaneously for applications in laser-based radar, optical communications, optical search engines and other processes. Delfyett has earned national recognition for his cutting-edge research and his leadership inspiring a new generation of scientists. He holds 36 patents.

Seal is an engineering professor and director of the NanoScience Technology Center and the Advanced Materials Processing and Analysis Center. He is a distinguished professor and also a Pegasus Professor. His list of professional accomplishments includes finding ways to use nanotechnology to aid in the prevention of retinal degeneration and other conditions. Among his most recent work is a nano-engineered material that can remove large volumes of oil from seawater that doesn鈥檛 hurt the environment. He holds 38 patents.

Election to NAI Fellow status is a high professional distinction accorded to academic inventors. The 143 innovators elected to NAI Fellow status this year represent 94 universities, governmental and nonprofit research institutes.聽 Together, they hold more than 5,600 U.S. patents.

Andy Faile, deputy U.S. commissioner for patents in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, will induct all honorees during the 3rd annual Conference of the National Academy of Inventors on Mar. 7 in Alexandria, Va. Fellows will be presented with a trophy and a rosette pin.

The NAI Fellows will be recognized in a full-page advertisement in The Chronicle of Higher Education and in Technology and Innovation 鈥� Proceedings of the National Academy of Inventors.

Academic inventors and innovators elected to the rank of NAI Fellow were nominated by their peers for outstanding contributions to innovation in areas such as patents and licensing, innovative discovery and technology, significant impact on society, and support and enhancement of innovation.

The NAI Fellows selection committee is comprised of 13 members including NAI charter fellows, recipients of U.S. National Medals, National Inventors Hall of Fame inductees, members of the National Academies and senior officials from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Association of University Technology Managers, and the National Inventors Hall of Fame.

Previous 麻豆原创 winners include: vice president for Research and Commercialization MJ Solieau, optics professor Leonid Glebov, and Pegasus Professor of optics Shin-Tson Wu.