Laser pioneer Marshall Jones is joining the Inventors Hall of Fame
It’s a profoundly thrilling moment for a man who lived his early years on a Long Island duck farm, and a rare honor, for there are only 547 members of the Hall -- only about 100 of whom are still living -- out of an estimated 2 million engineers working in America today.
When the ceremony is over, Jones will make his way back to General Electric’s research campus overlooking the Mohawk River in Niskayuna, where he has worked since 1974, earning 55 patents so far, with more pending.
For at age 75, he has no plans to retire. He has more work to do, as he helps shape what has been called the next stage of the Industrial Revolution: 3D printing, in which lasers fuse metal powder into objects that would be difficult or impossible to create with conventional manufacturing techniques.
Conard Holton
Conard Holton has 25 years of science and technology editing and writing experience. He was formerly a staff member and consultant for government agencies such as the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority and the International Atomic Energy Agency, and engineering companies such as Bechtel. He joined Laser Focus World in 1997 as senior editor, becoming editor in chief of WDM Solutions, which he founded in 1999. In 2003 he joined Vision Systems Design as editor in chief, while continuing as contributing editor at Laser Focus World. Conard became editor in chief of Laser Focus World in August 2011, a role in which he served through August 2018. He then served as Editor at Large for Laser Focus World and Co-Chair of the Lasers & Photonics Marketplace Seminar from August 2018 through January 2022. He received his B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania, with additional studies at the Colorado School of Mines and Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.