Boston Micromachines Founder Dr. Thomas Bifano Awarded Bepi Colombo Prize

CAMBRIDGE, MA, Apr 13 (MARKET WIRE) --
Boston Micromachines Corporation (BMC), a leading provider of MEMS-based
deformable mirror (DM) products for adaptive optics systems, today
announced that company founder and chief technology officer, Dr. Thomas
Bifano was awarded The Bepi Colombo Prize, for his work in
micro-deformable mirrors for astronomical telescopes. Bifano received the
prize during a day-long ceremony at the historic Galileo Hall at the
University of Padova in Italy on February 14th.

The prize is named for Italian scientist Giuseppe "Bepi" Colombo, a
fundamental figure in celestial mechanics, space science and technology
development. Colombo is best known for his research on the planet Mercury
and in whose honor the forthcoming space mission "BepiColombo" is named,
which is a joint venture between the European Space Agency and Japan
Aerospace Exploration Agency. The Bepi Prize is awarded every two years to
a single researcher for outstanding achievements in research and
technology transfer.

"The Grand Jury of the Colombo Prize was very pleased to select Thomas
Bifano as the winner of the Prize. The Jury appreciated in particular the
innovative character of the proposal, its potential for new discoveries,
its impact on knowledge and education, the quality of the presentation,
its exact match with Bepi Colombo's achievements, its potential in the
medical and defense domain," said Roger M. Bonnet, Chairman of the Grand
Jury and Executive Director of the International Space Science Institute.
"The Grand Jury has expressed its appreciation of this proposal and
congratulates the winner for such a remarkable success."

Bifano was among five finalists selected from an international pool of
applicants. The finalists traveled to Padova, Italy to compete for the
prize where they presented their research to the judges at the
university's Galileo Galilei Main Hall, named in honor of the renowned
astronomer and physicist who was the chair of the university's
mathematics department form 1592 to 1610. The selection committee was
composed of leaders from the European space science and astronomical
community.

"It is an incredible honor to be recognized for this award," said Bifano.
"It was thrilling to win, and deeply rewarding to be a finalist presenting
my research about telescopes in a room named for Galileo, on the four
hundredth anniversary of his first pointing a telescope toward the sky in
Padova."

Dr. Bifano also serves as Director of the Boston University Photonics
Center, and Professor of the Manufacturing Engineering Department at
Boston University, with a joint appointment in Aerospace and Mechanical
Engineering. He is a member of the Boston University Center for Space
Physics and the Fraunhofer Center for Manufacturing Innovation.

Boston Micromachines' deformable mirrors are widely used by leading
astronomers around the world in the historic search for new galaxies and
extra-solar planets. Research organizations, including French Aerospace
Lab ONERA, the Laboratory of Adaptive Optics at University of California,
Santa Cruz, the University of Florida, the Subaru Telescope in Hawaii, and
Durham University in England, are implementing the Boston Micromachines
deformable mirrors in testbeds and on-sky equipment.

About Boston Micromachines Corporation

Founded in 1999, Boston Micromachines Corporation (BMC) is the leading
provider of advanced microelectromechanical systems (MEMS)-based mirror
products for use in commercial adaptive optics systems, applying wavefront
correction to produce high resolution images of the human retina and
enhance images blurred by the Earth's atmosphere. The company's suite of
award-winning compact deformable mirror (DM) products is the most
cost-effective, highest performance mirrors in the market today. They are
widely used in vision science applications such as advanced optic retinal
imaging, long range laser communications, and astronomy, including NASA's
search for planets in other solar systems. Customers include leading
manufacturers of optical imaging and communication systems, governmental
agencies and contractors, and vision science research laboratories
worldwide, including NASA, UCal Berkeley, Lockheed Martin and Boston
University. Located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, BMC is privately held and
also offers custom designed manufacturing services. For more information
on BMC, please visit www.bostonmicromachines.com.

Contact:
Laura MacSweeney
Red Javelin Communications
(781) 395-6420
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