Editing Bell Labs (section)

===1980s===
[[File:AT&T Bell Laboratories logo.svg|thumb|Bell Laboratories logo, used from 1984 until 1995]]
[[File:Teletype DMD 5620.jpg|thumb|Teletype/AT&T 5620 DMD version of the Blit. Terminal software written by Rob Pike and hardware designed by Bart Locanthi, Jr.]]
During the 1980s, the operating system [[Plan 9 from Bell Labs]] was developed extending the UNIX model. Also, the [[Radiodrum]], an electronic music instrument played in three space dimensions, was invented.

In 1980, the [[Time-division multiple access|TDMA]] digital cellular telephone technology was patented.

In late 1981, the Bell Labs Research organization internal use of a terminal called Jerq led to the [[Blit (computer terminal)|Blit terminal]] being renamed by designers [[Rob Pike]] and Bart Locanthi, Jr for the UNIX operating system. It was a programmable bitmap graphics terminal using multi-layers of opened windows operated by a keyboard and a distinguished red-colored three-button digitized mouse.<ref>{{cite web |title=Blit |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n9d9iwTVDr4 |website=www.youtube.com | date=23 December 2020 |publisher=Association of Computing Machinery |access-date=28 November 2023}}</ref> It was later known as the AT&T 5620 DMD terminal for commercial sales. The Blit used the Motorola 68000 microprocessor, whereas the Teletype/AT&T 5620 Dot Mapped Display terminal used the Western Electric WE32000 microprocessor.<ref>{{cite web |title=AT&T/Teletype 5620 Dot Mapped Display Terminal |url=http://www.brouhaha.com/~eric/retrocomputing/att/5620/ |website=www.brouhaha.com |access-date=28 November 2023}}</ref>

The launching of the Bell Labs Fellows Award started in 1982 to recognize and honor scientists and engineers who have made outstanding and sustained R&D contributions at AT&T with a level of distinction. As of the 2021 inductees, 336 people have received the honor.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Fitchard |first1=Kevin |url=https://www.bell-labs.com/institute/blog/meet-the-new-bell-labs-fellows/#gref |title=Meet the new Bell Labs Fellows |date=23 November 2021 |access-date=July 28, 2022 |archive-date=July 28, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220728223706/https://www.bell-labs.com/institute/blog/meet-the-new-bell-labs-fellows/#gref |url-status=live }}</ref>

Ken Thompson and Dennis Ritchie were also Bell Labs Fellows for 1982. Ritchie started in 1967 at Bell Labs in the Bell Labs Computer Systems Research department.<ref>{{cite web |title=Alcatel Lucent SA : Alcatel-Lucent's Bell Labs hosts event to explore the impact of software on society and to honor the life of Dennis Ritchie - the co-inventor of UNIX® |url=https://www.marketscreener.com/quote/stock/ALCATEL-L-ADR-MUN-11612/news/Alcatel-Lucent-SA-Alcatel-Lucent-s-Bell-Labs-hosts-event-to-explore-the-impact-of-software-on-soci-14489394/ |website=Marketscreener |date=September 5, 2012 |access-date=1 January 2023 |archive-date=January 19, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230119075613/https://www.marketscreener.com/quote/stock/ALCATEL-L-ADR-MUN-11612/news/Alcatel-Lucent-SA-Alcatel-Lucent-s-Bell-Labs-hosts-event-to-explore-the-impact-of-software-on-soci-14489394/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Thompson started in 1966. Both co-inventors of the UNIX operating system and C language were also awarded decades later the 2011 Japan Prize for Information and Communications.

In 1982, [[fractional quantum Hall effect]] was discovered by [[Horst Ludwig Störmer|Horst Störmer]] and former Bell Laboratories researchers [[Robert B. Laughlin]] and [[Daniel C. Tsui]]; they consequently won a Nobel Prize in 1998 for the discovery.

In 1984, the first photoconductive antennas for picosecond electromagnetic radiation were demonstrated by Auston and others. This type of antenna became an important component in [[terahertz time-domain spectroscopy]]. In 1984, [[Karmarkar's algorithm]] for linear programming was developed by mathematician [[Narendra Karmarkar]]. Also in 1984, [[Modification of Final Judgment|a divestiture agreement]] signed in 1982 with the American Federal government forced the breakup of AT&T, and [[Bellcore]] (now [[iconectiv]]) was split off from Bell Laboratories to provide the same R&D functions for the newly created [[local exchange carrier]]s. AT&T also was limited to using the Bell trademark only in association with Bell Laboratories. ''Bell Telephone Laboratories, Inc.'' became a wholly owned company of the new [[AT&T Technologies]] unit, the former Western Electric. The [[5ESS Switch]] was developed during this transition.

The National Medal of Technology was awarded to Bell Labs, the first corporation to achieve this honor in February 1985.<ref>{{cite journal |title=National Medal of Technology awarded |url=https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/cen-v063n008.p008 |journal=Chemical & Engineering News Archive |date=February 25, 1985 |volume=63 |issue=8 |page=8 |doi=10.1021/cen-v063n008.p008 |access-date=1 January 2023 |archive-date=January 19, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230119082001/https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/cen-v063n008.p008 |url-status=live }}</ref>

In 1985, [[laser cooling]] was used to slow and manipulate atoms by [[Steven Chu]] and team. In 1985, the modeling language ''A Mathematical Programming Language'', [[AMPL]], was developed by [[Robert Fourer]], David M. Gay and Brian Kernighan at Bell Laboratories. Also in 1985, Bell Laboratories was awarded the [[National Medal of Technology]] "For contribution over decades to modern communication systems".

In 1985,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.bell-labs.com/explore/stories-changed-world/bjarne-stroustrop-awarded-prize-c-language/ |title=The Rise of C++ – Bell Labs |website=Bell-labs.com |access-date=May 13, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170630230413/http://bell-labs.com/explore/stories-changed-world/bjarne-stroustrop-awarded-prize-c-language/ |archive-date=June 30, 2017 |url-status=dead}}</ref> the programming language [[C++]] had its first commercial release.<ref name="JANA">{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wolEBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA12 |title=C++ AND OBJECT-ORIENTED PROGRAMMING PARADIGM |last=JANA |first=DEBASISH |date=October 1, 2014 |publisher=PHI Learning Pvt. Ltd. |isbn=9788120350335 |language=en |access-date=May 9, 2017 |archive-date=October 17, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231017050002/https://books.google.com/books?id=wolEBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA12#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Bjarne Stroustrup]] started developing C++ at Bell Laboratories in 1979 as an extension to the original C language.<ref name="JANA" />

Arthur Ashkin invented optical tweezers that grab particles, atoms, viruses and other living cells with their laser beam fingers. A major breakthrough came in 1987, when Ashkin used the tweezers to capture living bacteria without harming them. He immediately began studying biological systems using the optical tweezers, which are now widely used to investigate the machinery of life.<ref name=":2">{{cite web |url=https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/2018/press-release/ |title=The Nobel Prize in Physics 2018 |website=NobelPrize.org |language=en-US |access-date=October 2, 2018 |archive-date=February 9, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190209010109/https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/2018/press-release/ |url-status=live }}</ref> He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics (2018) for his work involving optical tweezers and their application to biological systems.

In the mid-1980s, the Transmission System departments of Bell Labs developed highly reliable long-haul [[fiber-optic communication]]s systems based on [[SONET]], and network operations techniques, that enabled very high volume, near-instantaneous communications across the North American continent. Fail-safe and disaster-related traffic management operations systems enhanced the usefulness of the fiber optics. There was a synergy in the land-based and seas-based fiber optic systems, although they were developed by different divisions within the company. These systems are still in use throughout the U.S. today.

Charles A. Burrus became a Bell Labs Fellow in 1988 for his work done as a Technical Staff member. Prior to this accomplishment, was awarded in 1982 the AT&T Bell Laboratories Distinguished Technical Staff Award. Charles started in 1955 at the Holmdel Bell Labs location and retired in 1996 with consultations to Lucent Technologies up to 2002.<ref>{{cite web |title=Charles A. Burrus |url=https://www.optica.org/en-us/history/biographies/bios/charles_a_burrus/ |website=Optica |date=17 September 2021 |access-date=1 January 2023 |archive-date=January 19, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230119093529/https://www.optica.org/en-us/history/biographies/bios/charles_a_burrus/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

In 1988, [[TAT-8]] became the first transatlantic [[fiber-optic cable]]. Bell Labs in Freehold, NJ developed the 1.3-micron fiber, cable, splicing, laser detector, and 280&nbsp;Mbit/s repeater for 40,000 telephone-call capacity.

In the late 1980s, realizing that voiceband modems were approaching the Shannon limit on bit rate, [[Richard D. Gitlin]], Jean-Jacques Werner, and their colleagues pioneered a major breakthrough by inventing DSL ([[digital subscriber line]]) and creating the technology that enabled megabit transmission on installed copper telephone lines, thus facilitating the broadband era.<ref>{{cite patent |country=US |number=4924492 |title=Wideband transmission of digital signals |pubdate=May 8, 1990 |fdate=1992-10-20 |invent1=Richard D. Gitlin |invent2=Sailesh K. Rao |invent3=Jean-Jacques Werner |invent4=Nicholas Zervos |assign1=AT&T Corp}}</ref>