Brian John Orr earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Sydney in 1964 and 1965 respectively. He then earned his Ph.D. from the University of Bristol in 1968. He currently serves as Emeritus Professor at Macquarie University. Previously, he was at the University of NSW for 18 years. He has long been involved in several professional chemical, optical, and physical societies and has been active in journal editing (Optics Express, JOSA B, and Chemical Physics Letters). He was the first recipient (in 1994) of the Royal Australian Chemical Institute's Physical Chemistry Division Medal and (in 2005) the Australian Optical Society's W. H. (Beattie) Steel Medal. In 2004, The Optical Society (OSA) awarded him its William F. Meggers Award “for outstanding work in spectroscopy.” He is also a Fellow of OSA.