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LIA's Arthur L. Schawlow award presented to Valentin Gapontsev

Valentin Gapontsev, founder, chairman, and CEO of IPG Photonics Corp., Oxford, Mass., has received the Laser Institute of America's 2009 Arthur L. Schawlow award.

The award honors individuals who have made distinguished contributions to applications of lasers in science, industry, education, or medicine. The award, named for Professor Arthur L. Schawlow, who received the Nobel Prize in physics in 1981 for his contribution to the development of laser spectroscopy, is LIA's highest achievement award.

At the ceremony in November, Gapontsev was recognized as "the father of the fiber-laser industry as it is known today, who has pioneered the field in five decades of academic work and as the founder and CEO of a global technology company that continues to transform the laser industry."