Awards & Grants

Honorary Members

The most distinguished of all OSA Member categories, Honorary Membership is awarded to individuals who have made unique, seminal contributions to the field of optics. The roster of living Honorary Members demonstrates the high stature of this designation: Arthur Ashkin, Nicolaas Bloembergen, Steven Chu, Claude Cohen-Tannoudji, Roy J. Glauber, James P. Gordon, Theodor W. Haensch, John L. Hall, Donald B. Keck, Herwig Kogelnik, William D. Phillips, Charles H. Townes and Emil Wolf.

Honorary Members are elected by unanimous vote of the OSA Board of Directors upon nomination by the OSA Presidential Advisory Committee and unanimous endorsement by the OSA Awards Committee.  The number of Honorary Members cannot exceed two-thousandths (2/1000) of the total membership of the Society. Normally, no more than one Honorary Member can be elected in a calendar year, although the Board of Directors may exceed that limitation under extraordinary circumstances.

Honorary Members receive a complimentary OSA lifetime membership and other special recognitions of their distinguished status, including complimentary OSA meeting registrations and member subscriptions to all OSA journals of their choice.

Any OSA member may nominate someone to the status of Honorary Membership by sending a brief (no longer than one page) advocacy statement discussing the candidate to: OSA Executive Office, 2010 Massachusetts Ave., NW, Washington, DC, USA 20036, ATTN: Presidential Advisory Committee; or email edreaz@osa.org. The deadline for nominations is 1 March.