Stewart E. Miller

Biography

Stewart E. Miller was recognized for his groundbreaking work within microwave and optical communications.

Miller was born on September 1, 1918 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He earned his bachelor's and master's degrees in engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Miller then joined Bell Labs in the early 1940s where he worked with microwave radar technologies. After World War II, Miller played an important role in the development of coaxial cable carrier systems and millimeter-wave components.

In the early 1960s, Miller served as the director of Guided Wave Research. He was the first person to recognize the potential of optical communications and also established a research program to explore different periodic lens systems. As optical fiber technology developed throughout the 1960s, Miller demonstrated its usefulness and presented the idea of combining various optical components on one semiconductor chip. Miller became the director of Lightwave Research in 1980, and in 1983, retired from Bell Labs. Although Miller retired, he continued working with semiconductor lasers as a consultant at Bellcore (present-day Telcordia Technologies).

Miller held nearly 80 patents and held memberships and fellowships with numerous organizations including the IEEE, the National Academy of Engineering, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the Optical Society of America. He also received numerous awards throughout his career like the 1972 Morris N. Liebmann Memorial Award and the Franklin Institute's 1977 Stuart Ballantine Medal, among many others.

Miller passed away on February 27, 1990.