Federico Capasso is a distinguished physicist and a pioneer in the field of semiconductor devices.

With a career that stretches across industry and academia, Capasso made groundbreaking contributions while at Bell Labs, culminating in the invention of the quantum cascade laser—a type of semiconductor laser that is used in chemical sensing and spectroscopy.

Now a professor at Harvard, his work has spurred advances in quantum electronics, nanophotonics, and materials science.

He holds numerous patents, has received the IEEE Edison Medal, and is a member of the National Academy of Sciences.

In 2018, he was elected as member of the European Academy of Engineering.