On November 3, before a standing-room-only crowd of employees, alumni and distinguished guests, Bell Labs President Jeong Kim officially opened the new Bell Labs Technology Showcase in Murray Hill, NJ, USA.  “Let me be the first to welcome you to the Grand Opening of the Bell Labs Technology Showcase,” said Kim.

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“The Bell Labs Technology Showcase brings to life the many brilliant inventions and discoveries made by our researchers over the past century, along with the current research that we believe will impact the way we communicate in the future,” he said.

The event included a cake-cutting ceremony and presentations by Gee Rittenhouse, head of Bell Labs Research, Alice White, VP, Bell Labs North America, who led the Technology Showcase planning and design team, and Emlyn Koster, CEO of the Liberty Science Center of New Jersey and co-designer of the showcase.

From left: Alice White, Jeong Kim, Emlyn Koster and Gee Rittenhouse 

"It’s awe-inspiring,” said Dottie Evans of Networks Group-Wireless, one of the first employees to visit the showcase. “I’m" proud to work for Alcatel-Lucent, with Bell Labs as the ‘brain trust.’”

“The exhibit reawakens the ‘wow-ness’ of Bell Labs,” said a Bell Labs alumnus, when asked to describe the Technology Showcase. And, indeed, the showcase is all that, and more. Everyone received a commemorative poster as a memento of the event. [Click for poster]

About the Bell Labs Technology Showcase

The Bell Labs Technology Showcase is located in the west corner of Murray Hill’s front entrance and is open to the public. With floor-to-ceiling windows that allow sunlight to stream in, the exhibit is open and airy -- its soft-blue colors taking on new tones as the sun moves across the sky.

The windows themselves are silk-screened with translucent, over-sized copies from the journals of some of Bell Labs’ most famous scientists, including:

> Harold Black, who invented the negative feedback amplifier, revolutionizing the field of applied electronics

> Arno Penzias, Nobel Prize winning co-discoverer of the faint cosmic background radiation remaining from the "big bang" explosion

> Al Cho, whose molecular beam epitaxy invention enabled the engineering of highly precise semiconductor components needed for advanced electronics and photonics 

Tables built from sustainable materials and designed to give the impression of lab benches are placed around the exhibit space, each devoted to a specific technology area, with examples of today’s research interwoven with the earlier inventions, including:

> Immersive Communications – building an entirely new, “better than being there” communications experience to connecting through video, audio and sensor data     

> Topological Quantum Computing – performing calculations exponentially faster than today’s transistor-based computers

> Personal Content Management – organizing personal content through a virtual database regardless of where the information resides on the Internet

> Photonic Integrated Circuit – integrating many optical components into a single package, reducing the power consumption, size and cost for optical networking equipment

One of the highlights of the exhibit is the Bell Labs Global Whiteboard – a dynamic display designed to evoke a typical researcher’s whiteboard - was created by Potion Design.  With one touch of a fingertip on the whiteboard, a myriad of information “bubbles” appear, each linked to details about Bell Labs research and researchers, including papers, patents, projects, photos, and people. With each touch, more information about a subject appears.

Ben Lowe and Alice White exploring the Bell Labs Global Whiteboard.

"With the dynamic wall, researchers can find their names and projects, as well as discover other researchers whose work is connected to theirs,” explained Ben Lowe, Bell Labs Operations and member of the planning team. “In this way one can easily see the relationships and connections between people and ideas -- one great idea followed by another.”

The Making of the Technology Showcase

It had long been recognized that the lobby exhibit needed updating, but planning began in earnest about 14 months ago with the design contract being awarded to Liberty Science Center.  “With the help of the Liberty Science Center design team, we began by first defining goals and guiding principles,” said Alice White, VP Bell Labs North America, who led the Technology Showcase Project.  “Our goal was to redesign the exhibition experience to be an introduction to the unique strengths of the current Bell Labs, and present the ongoing innovation in research and technology.”

The team “thought very hard about what the most important advances have been through the years -- the ones that ongoing research has relied upon,” explained White.

Some of the obvious choices include the transistor, information theory, the laser, and the UNIX operating system.  Other artifacts on display include an original Telstar satellite, proof of the big bang theory of the universe, an early hearing aid, and a prototype of thermal management technology for tomorrow’s communications networks.

The team culled information and images from many sources, and interviewed several researchers, visiting their labs to get a better understanding of the work they do.  “It was a pleasure meeting the Bell Labs researchers and translating their work into visual images that brought their creative thinking to life,” said Liberty Science Center’s Director of Design and New Media, Ann Neumann.   

Many Bell Labs alumni who were present expressed delight at the way the exhibit presented their work.  “The showcase does an excellent job of displaying the innovations that have made a big impact on our society, not just here in the United States, but around the world,” said Al McRae, who retired from Bell Labs after many years as a researcher in solid state surfaces, satellite communications, and other fields. One thing all the visitors agreed upon is that innovation continues to occur at Bell Labs every day.

"The best way to predict the future is to invent it,” said Gee Rittenhouse, quoting Alan Kay, a pioneer in computer science. “What’s going on in today’s Bell Labs is really about people collaborating and innovating to create a better future. The exhibit captures that essence.”