The 2003 Otto Schott Research Award was recently granted to Professor Andreas Tunnermann of the Institute of Applied Physics at the Friedrich Schiller University, Jena, Germany. The Otto Schott Research Award is granted for outstanding achievements in basic research, technology and applications within the field of materials, especially glasses, glass ceramics, other optical materials or components made thereof. This year’s recipient received the award for his outstanding research results in the field of solid-state lasers, and especially for his revolutionary work on high-power fiber lasers, short pulse fiber lasers and fiber amplifiers. Tunnermann received his doctorate in physics from the University of Hanover in 1992. In the same year, he moved as manager to the Laserzentrum Hannover e.V., where he worked on high-power continuous diode-pumped solid-state lasers. In 1997, he received his postdoctoral qualification in Hanover in this field and was appointed to the Chair of Applied Physics at the Friedrich Schiller University in Jena. He has headed the Institute for Applied Physics there since 1998.