Peter C. Schultz

Peter C. Schultz and two colleagues invented an optical fiber that has become the basis of the internet. Schultz, the retired president of Heraeus Amersil, Inc., an Atlanta-based glass manufacturer that is the key supplier of fused silica glass for the optic and semiconductors industries, has 26 patents and has written more than 20 research papers. He joined the ranks of Thomas Edison and Alexander Graham Bell as an inductee of the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 1993. President Bill Clinton awarded the National Medal of Technology, the highest accolade in that field, to Schultz at a White House ceremony in December 2000. His friend, Daryl Buffenstein, an attorney in Atlanta, says, “Peter is an adventurer, rejoices in discovery and meeting new people. He even wants to join my migratory workers in shearing sheep on my farm.” Schultz credits his hard-working immigrant parents for inspiring him. He also says that the government student loans that were available in the post-Sputnik era of his youth enabled him to pursue his education and career.