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05 September 2012
OSA Foundation Receives Donation of Lasers Book to Help Raise Funds for Siegman Laser Summer School
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Lyndsay Meyer
The Optical Society
+1.202.416.1435
lmeyer@osa.org
OSA Foundation Receives Donation of Lasers Book to Help Raise Funds for Siegman Laser Summer School
WASHINGTON, Sept. 5, 2012—The OSA Foundation announced today that University Science Books, the publisher of Anthony “Tony” Siegman’s well-known book Lasers, is donating 300 copies of the text to the Foundation for re-sale to raise money for the Siegman International Summer School on Lasers in memory of the author who passed away last year. The effort is part of an endowment campaign launched earlier this year to permanently fund the summer school, which aims to honor Seigman for the tremendous contributions he made to the scientific community and his passion for teaching while providing optics graduate students around the world with the opportunity to experience a program of lectures, networking opportunities, poster presentations, research sharing and more.
Lasers is a widely used reference and textbook with an emphasis on basic laser principles and theory. The book has been hailed for describing laser physics and building on classical models without requiring the reader to have a background in quantum mechanics. Siegman, who passed away in October 2011 at the age of 79, was well-known for his work on the book, as well as his significant accomplishments in the fields of microwave and quantum electronics, lasers, and optics during his more than 40-year career at Stanford’s School of Engineering. Siegman was an Optical Society (OSA) Fellow, past OSA president, and founding member of the OSA Foundation.
In addition to the donation of the hard copy books, University Science Books and the Siegman family transferred the digital rights for Lasers to the OSA Foundation. This allows the digital version of the book to be made available for purchase in its entirely and by chapter on OSA's digital library, Optics InfoBase.
“We are very grateful to University Science Books and the Siegman family for this generous donation,” said G. Michael Morris, OSA Foundation chair. “Lasers is one of the most widely used texts in the optics field—it provides clear information on the fundamentals of laser science for a broad audience. The sale of these books is a perfect complement to the goals of the Siegman Summer School campaign; Tony was a master educator—he cared deeply about learning and seeing his students succeed and the summer school aspires to carry on that legacy for years to come.”
Books must be purchased through the OSA Foundation website to qualify as a donation. Proceeds from sales of the books will be matched 100 percent by OSA with a gift to the OSA Foundation Annual Fund.
About the OSA Foundation
The OSA Foundation, created in 2002, is dedicated to supporting programs that advance science education, offer career and professional development resources, and recognize technical and business excellence. Contributions to the Foundation, a tax-exempt organization under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, are deductible as provided by law. All donors receive special recognition and acknowledgements, unless they request to be anonymous. Donations to the OSA Foundation are matched dollar-for-dollar by the Optical Society through its donation to the OSA Foundation annual fund, so your gift makes twice the difference. For more information, please visit www.osa-foundation.org, follow us on Facebook or contact the OSA development staff via telephone: 202.416.1434; or e-mail: Foundation@osa.org.
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