OSA
The Optical Society

Advancing the Science and Technology of Light

OSA Nobel Laureates


Intro

Over the course of OSA’s nearly one hundred year history, 30 members have been awarded a Nobel Prize in Physics, Chemistry or Physiology/Medicine. For a complete list of the Nobel Laureates in each category, click on the links below.

Physics

Willard S. Boyle (2009)
OSA Member
Boyle "for the invention of an imaging semiconductor circuit - the CCD sensor"



Charles K. Kao (2009)
OSA Member
Kao "for groundbreaking achievements concerning the transmission of light in fibers for optical communication"



George E. Smith (2009)
OSA Member
Smith "for the invention of an imaging semiconductor circuit - the CCD sensor"



John C. Mather (2006)
OSA Fellow
Mather "for their discovery of the blackbody form and anisotropy of the cosmic microwave background radiation"



Roy J. Glauber (2005)
OSA Honorary Member
Glauber "for his contribution to the quantum theory of optical coherence"



Theodor W. Haensch (2005)
OSA Honorary Member
Haensch "for their contributions to the development of laser-based precision spectroscopy, including the optical frequency comb technique"



John L. Hall (2005)
OSA Honorary Member
Hall "for their contributions to the development of laser-based precision spectroscopy, including the optical frequency comb technique"



Eric Cornell (2001)
OSA Fellow
Cornell "for the achievement of Bose-Einstein condensation in dilute gases of alkali atoms, and for early fundamental studies of the properties of the condensates"



Wolfgang Ketterle (2001)
OSA Fellow
Ketterle "for the achievement of Bose-Einstein condensation in dilute gases of alkali atoms, and for early fundamental studies of the properties of the condensates"



Carl Wieman (2001)
OSA Fellow
Wieman "for the achievement of Bose-Einstein condensation in dilute gases of alkali atoms, and for early fundamental studies of the properties of the condensates"



Zhores I. Alferov (2000)
OSA Fellow
Alferov "for basic work on information and communication technology"



Steven Chu (1997)
OSA Honorary Member
Chu "for development of methods to cool and trap atoms with laser light"



Claude Cohen-Tannoudji (1997)
OSA Honorary Member
Cohen "for development of methods to cool and trap atoms with laser light"



William D. Phillips (1997)
OSA Honorary Member
Phillips "for development of methods to cool and trap atoms with laser light"



Nicolaas Bloembergen (1981)
OSA Honorary Member
Bloembergen "for their contribution to the development of laser spectroscopy"



Arthur L. Schawlow (1981)
OSA Honorary Member
Schawlow "for their contribution to the development of laser spectroscopy"



James Rainwater (1975)
OSA Fellow
Rainwater "for the discovery of the connection between collective motion and particle motion in atomic nuclei and the development of the theory of the structure of the atomic nucleus based on this connection"



Dennis Gabor (1971)
OSA Honorary Member
Gabor "for his invention and development of the holographic method"



Alfred Kastler (1966)
OSA Honorary Member
Kastler "for the discovery and development of optical methods for studying Hertzian resonances in atoms"



Aleksandr Mikhailovish Prokhorov (1964)
OSA Honorary Member
Prokharov "for fundamental work in the field of quantum electronics, which has led to the construction of oscillators and amplifiers based on the maser-laser principle"



Charles H. Townes (1964)
OSA Honorary Member
Townes "for fundamental work in the field of quantum electronics, which has led to the construction of oscillators and amplifiers based on the maser-laser principle"



Willis Eugene Lamb (1955)
OSA Honorary Member
Lamb "for his discoveries concerning the fine structure of the hydrogen spectrum"



Frederik Zernike (1953)
OSA Honorary Member
Zernike "for his demonstration of the phase contrast method, especially for his invention of the phase contrast microscope"



Sir Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman (1930)
OSA Honorary Member
Raman "for his work on the scattering of light and for the discovery of the effect named after him"



Robert Andrews Millikan (1923)
OSA Honorary Member
Millikan "for his work on the elementary charge of electricity and on the photoelectric effect"



Albert Abraham Michelson (1907)
OSA Honorary Member
Michelson "for his optical precision instruments and the spectroscopic and metrological investigations carried out with their aid"



Chemistry

Robert F. Curl, Jr. (1996)
OSA Fellow
"for their discovery of fullerenes"



Gerhard Herzberg (1971)
OSA Honorary Member
Herzberg "for his contributions to the knowledge of electronic structure and geometry of molecules, particularly free radicals"



Physiology/Medicine

Haldan Keffer Hartline (1967)
OSA Honorary Member
Haldan Keffer Hartline "for their discoveries concerning the primary physiological and chemical visual processes in the eye"



George Wald (1967)
OSA Honorary Member
"for their discoveries concerning the primary physiological and chemical visual processes in the eye"