Manfred Börner (16 March 1929 in

Rochlitz Rochlitz (; , ) is a major district town (Große Kreisstadt) in the district of Mittelsachsen, in Saxony, Germany. Rochlitz is the head of the "municipal partnership Rochlitz" (Verwaltungsgemeinschaft Rochlitz) with its other members being the mu ...

– 15 January 1996) was a

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

physicist A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate cau ...

he holds nearly 60 patents and is best known for his contributions to the development of

fibre optic An optical fiber, or optical fibre, is a flexible glass or plastic fiber that can transmit light from one end to the other. Such fibers find wide usage in fiber-optic communications, where they permit transmission over longer distances and at ...

technology. He developed the first working optical fibre data transmission system in 1965.

Life and career

From 1964, Börner's research focus increasingly shifted to laser physics and optical communications engineering. In 1965 he made a groundbreaking invention in this field. He designed an optical long-distance transmission system based on the combination of

laser diode file:Laser diode chip.jpg, The laser diode chip removed and placed on the eye of a needle for scale A laser diode (LD, also injection laser diode or ILD or semiconductor laser or diode laser) is a semiconductor device similar to a light-emittin ...

glass fibre Glass fiber ( or glass fibre) is a material consisting of numerous extremely fine fibers of glass. Glassmakers throughout history have experimented with glass fibers, but mass manufacture of glass fiber was only made possible with the inventio ...

s and

photodiode A photodiode is a semiconductor diode sensitive to photon radiation, such as visible light, infrared or ultraviolet radiation, X-rays and gamma rays. It produces an electrical current when it absorbs photons. This can be used for detection and me ...

s. In 1966 he applied for a patent for the system for the company AEG-Telefunken. It was the world's first patent for a fibre optic data transmission system. All optical long-distance transmission systems still work according to this system designed by Börner. During the years 1958 to 1966, Börner primarily dealt with the development of

electronic filter Electronic filters are a type of signal processing filter in the form of electrical circuits. This article covers those filters consisting of lumped-element model, lumped electronic components, as opposed to distributed-element filters. That ...

s for carrier frequency technology. The filters he designed subsequently replaced the previously standard analog filters, which were still made up of coils and capacitors. Börner's doctoral thesis was also created in connection with the construction of electromechanical filters. During his work at the research institute of the company Telefunken, Börner registered a total of 57 patents. Several of the inventions patented at that time, especially in the field of optical communications technology, are still of extraordinary importance for modern fibre optic data transmission and the functionality of the Internet today.

Awards and memberships

* 1962: Award of the Nachrichtentechnische Gesellschaft (NTG in the VDE; today Informationstechnische Gesellschaft) for proficiencies on the field of electromechanical filters and power-line communication * 1982: Fellow of the

Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is an American 501(c)(3) public charity professional organization for electrical engineering, electronics engineering, and other related disciplines. The IEEE has a corporate office ...

(IEEE) * 1990: Eduard-Rhein-Award by Eduard Rhein Foundation

External links

DER SPIEGEL 25/1973 ''Puls im Glas'' (German)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Borner, Manfred 20th-century German physicists 20th-century German inventors Academic staff of the Technical University of Munich 1929 births 1996 deaths