Orazio Svelto is Professor of Quantum Electronics at the Polytechnic Institute of Milan and Director of the Quantum Electronics Center of the Italian National Research Council. His research has covered a wide range of activity in the field of laser physics and quantum electronics, starting from the very beginning of these disciplines. This activity includes ultrashort-pulse generation and applications, development of laser resonators and mode-selection techniques, laser applications in biology and medicine, and development of solid-state lasers. Professor Svelto is the author of more than 150 scientific papers and his researches have been the subject of more than 50 invited papers and… international conferences. He has served as a program chair of the IX International Quantum Electronics Conference (1976), as a chair of the European program committee for CLEO �85 and CLEO �90, and he was general co-chair for the first CLEO-Europe Conference (1994). He is an elected member of the Italian "Accademia dei XL" and a Fellow of the IEEE.