The family of Robert Danner Burnham (Estes Park, Colorado) sadly announces his passing away very peacefully on June 29, 2023 at Pathways Hospice Care, Fort Collins, CO. He was born on March 21, 1944 in Havre de Grace, Md, with his twin brother at a military base during WWII.
Robert is survived by his wife, Loretta Ann (Lori) Burnham of Estes Park, CO; his son Benjamin Burnham (Margaret) of Mt. Prospect, IL; his daughter Kimberly Burnham of Minneapolis, MN; his daughter Jennifer Goldfarb (Ariel) of Evanston, IL; his twin brother George Burnham (Kathryn) of Fort Collins, CO; his brother Douglas Burnham (Catherine) of Stoke-on-Trent, United Kingdom; his former wife Kyungsoon Kim Burnham of Wheaton, IL; his grandchildren Meris, Matea, and Elodie Goldfarb, and Nathaniel and Savannah Burnham. He is also survived by many nieces, nephews, and cousins.
Robert was pre-deceased by his parents, Hugh and Margaret Burnham; his two sisters Mary Jane Neibel and Joyce Malisch, and his stepmother Donna Burnham. He and his siblings were raised in Edwardsville, IL Robert studied Electrical Engineering at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.
Dr. Robert Burnham was a well-known pioneer in the material and device technologies that enable fiber optic communications for both long-haul networks and data centers. With his PhD thesis advisor, Nick Holonyak, Jr., Burnham demonstrated that compound semiconductor quaternary materials (semiconductors formed using four elements) could be used to form high-performance semiconductor lasers. This demonstration ultimately led to the use of quaternary semiconductors in applications such as long-haul (city to city) and metropolitan-area fiber optic networks. While working at the Xerox’s Palo Alto Research Center (Xerox PARC) with William Striefer and Don Scifres, Burnham developed distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) semiconductor lasers. The capability of these lasers to operate at a single wavelength has further enabled the use of semiconductor lasers in long-haul and metropolitan-area fiber optic networks. This team further proposed that such lasers could be made in a vertically-emitting geometry well before the application of semiconductor DBRs to Vertical-Cavity Surface-Emitting Lasers (VCSELs) and received one of the earliest patents on vertically-emitting lasers. VCSELs are now broadly deployed in enterprise networks, data centers, smart phone facial recognition, optical “mice,” and have potential use in autonomous vehicles. Robert was also an early pioneer in Metal-Organic Chemical Vapor Deposition (MOCVD), the semiconductor growth technique used today to produce most of the photonic devices used in communications, sensing, industrial laser systems, medical applications, and high-speed electronics. Dr. Burnham has over 300 publications and 80 patents. In recognition of the impact of his work, Robert has been awarded numerous honors including election to the National Academy of Engineering, receipt of the IEEE Jack A. Morton Award, receipt of the Rank Prize for Opto-Electronics, election as a Fellow of the IEEE, and receipt of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Electrical and Computer Engineering Distinguished Alumni Award.
Robert and Lori were married July 25, 1997, and retired from Wheaton, IL to Estes Park in year 2000. Robert found joy in designing their house, and having it built. He then began designing the gardens he envisioned in his head, and worked for years to bring his dream to fruition. He became best known as having the garden with approximately 180 varieties of colorful peonies blooming all around the house in late June-early July. It looked like “fairyland.” He enjoyed being a member of the Estes Park Garden Club, served as Treasurer for a spell, loved sharing information and participating in garden tour events, and Library presentations.
Robert was also a member of the “Ping Pong” Club; and he and Lori loved to dance, and were members of the Friday Niters Dance Club for twelve years.
Robert is sorely missed by his family and friends. He was a quiet, happy, creative uncomplaining, easygoing man. A private celebration of his life will be held by his immediate family in October.
If you would like to make a contribution in Robert’s memory, the family would like to suggest the Rocky Mountain Conservancy. Their website is RMConservancy.org or a check or money order may be mailed to the Conservancy at P.O. Box 3100, Estes Park, CO 80517, and note to them that it is in memory of Robert Burnham.
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