The German Koerber Foundation is awarding its Koerber European Science Award for 2005 to Professor Philip Russell, a physicist at Bath university in south-west England, for research into bundles of gl…
The German Koerber Foundation is awarding its Koerber European Science Award for 2005 to Professor Philip Russell, a physicist at Bath university in south-west England, for research into bundles of glass fibers. The foundation promotes the international exchange of good ideas and best practice. Each year the foundation makes the award to support a specific research project. Professor Russell, a pioneer in the field of photonic crystal fibers, received the GBP 600,000 prize at Hamburg in Germany on 7 September 2005. He intends to develop improved optical and infra-red lasers which can be used to produce delicately structured computer chips. The aim will be to achieve even faster data transmission over the internet, to improve sensors to detect environmental pollutants in factories, and to develop a more precise procedure for identifying cells for use in cancer research. Professor Russell“s fibers consist of a bundle of glass cores and are only about 100 micrometers in diameter. Professor Russell has been professor of physics at the university since 1996, and heads the university“s research group into photonics and photonic materials.