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John Burnette MacChesney II (July 8, 1929 – September 30, 2021) was an American scientist. ABell Labs pioneer inoptical communication, he was best known for his 1974 invention of themodified chemical vapor deposition (MCVD) process with colleague P.B. O'Connor, and for co-inventing high-purity "sol-gel" overcladding for optical fiber in the early 1980s. These inventions were key to the commercial manufacture ofoptical fiber.
John Burnette MacChesney II was born inGlen Ridge, New Jersey, on July 8, 1929, to John Burnette MacChesney I. Raised inCaldwell, New Jersey, he graduated fromGrover Cleveland High School (since renamed as James Caldwell High School).[1]
He received his B.A. degree fromBowdoin College in 1951, served in the U.S. Army during theKorean War, and subsequently studied atCity College of New York andNew York University while working inNew York City. In 1959 he received his Ph.D. in geochemistry fromPennsylvania State University, and joined Bell Labs, examining electrical and magnetic properties ofceramics and single crystals. In 1972 he turned his attention to glass and then toerbium and other rare-earth materials for fiber optic amplifiers.
MacChesney was an adjunct professor atBrown andRutgers universities, as well as theKwangju Institute of Science and Technology inKorea, and held more than a hundred domestic and foreign patents. He received theCharles Stark Draper Prize (1999), theJohn Tyndall Award (1999), theIEEE Morris N. Liebmann Memorial Award (1978), and other awards from theAmerican Ceramic Society, theInstitute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, theAmerican Physical Society,Sigma Xi, and the Research and Development Council of New Jersey. In 1985, MacChesney was elected a member of theNational Academy of Engineering for leadership in the invention of processes to make glasses for optical fiber and for transfer of these processes to manufacturing.
MacChesney died on September 30, 2021, at the age of 92.[2]