Janet Jackel: key obituary facts
Is Janet Jackel dead? Yes. Janet Jackel died on October 17, 2026, at age 79.
Cause of death: Janet Jackel's cause of death has not been publicly confirmed.
What was Janet Jackel known for?
She was an American optical networking researcher.
More about Janet Jackel
Gender: female.
Occupation: engineer, scientist.
Janet Jackel, an American optical engineer and former chief scientist at Telcordia, died October 17, 2026, aged 79.
Born in Queens, New York, on May 30, 1947, she studied physics at Brandeis University, graduating magna cum laude and as a member of Phi Beta Kappa in 1969. She went on to Cornell University, where she completed a doctorate in 1976.
Her dissertation examined nonlinear optical spectroscopy in the excitonic region of cadmium sulfate, reflecting her early work in optical science. That year, Jackel joined Bell Labs as a member of its technical staff. From 1976 to 1983, she worked on developing optical components based on lithium niobate. After the Bell System breakup in 1984, she continued her research at Telcordia, where her work increasingly focused on optical networking systems. She became director of optical networking systems research in 2000, a role she held before being named the company’s chief scientist in 2008. Jackel served as chief scientist through 2011, bringing together a career that spanned research positions at Bell Labs and Telcordia and included both optical component development and optical networking research.