Optica mourns the passing of these distinguished colleagues.
Monday, July 29, 2024
Harry George Sperling, Optica Fellow and psychologist, passed away on 29 July 2023 at the age of 98. Sperling was known for his contributions to visual perception, color vision, and the physiological basis of color processing in humans and monkeys.Sperling was born on 26 August 1924 in New York City. He went to Public School 114 in Queens and the Horace Mann School for Boys, a college-preparatory
Tuesday, February 27, 2024
Robert N. Compton, Optica Fellow and William F. Meggers Award recipient, passed away on 27 February 2024 at the age of 85. He was known for his research in atomic and molecular physics, particularly in nonlinear laser spectroscopy and the physics of negative ions.Born in Metropolis, Illinois, on 28 November 1938, his early fascination with science led him to take apart a radio to understand
Tuesday, February 13, 2024
Andrew Weiner, Optica Fellow, former Editor in Chief of Optics Express, and recipient of the RW Wood Prize passed away on 13 February 2024 at the age of 65. He was an active volunteer for Optica and the optics and photonics community, having served in leadership roles in publications, conferences, and governance. Weiner was most known for his work in ultrafast optics, high-speed fiber
Saturday, January 6, 2024
Dennis G. Hall, Optica Fellow, active volunteer and professor emeritus, passed away on 6 January 2024 at the age of 75. He was most known for becoming the first associate provost of Vanderbilt University and focusing his research on the interaction of light with matter, optical waveguide phenomena, and the propagation of light.Hall was born on 7 March 1948 in Belleville, Illinois, and met his
Friday, December 8, 2023
James C. Wyant, 2010 Optica President, Optica Honorary Member, and recipient of the Frederic Ives Medal/Jarus W. Quinn Prize, passed away on 8 December 2023 at the age of 80. Wyant was an academic leader, entrepreneur, educator, and philanthropist. Over the course of his 57 years of Optica membership, Wyant served in numerous volunteer roles, including being elected President (2010) and
Friday, October 20, 2023
Richard M. Osgood Jr., Optica Fellow, volunteer and awardee of the R. W. Wood Prize, passed away on 20 October 2023. He was most known for his work in condensed matter and chemical physics of surfaces, laser technology, and nano-optics and serving in the United States Air Force. Osgood was born in Kansas City, Missouri, on 28 December 1943. He attended Winchester High School, where he was
Sunday, October 1, 2023
Adrianus (Adrian) Korpel, Optica Fellow and educator, passed away on 1 October 2023 in Oro Valley, Arizona, at the age of 91. He was most known for his contributions to the fields of acousto-optics and electrical engineering and for inventing Bragg Diffraction Imaging, an optical technique for sound field visualization.Korpel was born on 18 February 1932, in Rotterdam, Netherlands. He grew up
Sunday, August 20, 2023
Vladimir Zakharov, Optica Fellow and renowned figure in the fields of mathematics, physics, and literature, passed away on 20 August 2023 at the age of 84. He was most known for his contributions to nonlinear wave theory, advancements in mathematical physics, and publishing several books of poetry.Zakharov was born on 1 August 1939, in Kazan, Russia, to Evgeniy and Elena Zakharov. He pursued his
Thursday, July 20, 2023
James Austin Piper, Optica Fellow and Emeritus Professor at Macquarie University, passed away on 20 July 2023. He was most known for establishing one of the first laser research programs in Australia. He conducted internationally-recognized research in metal-vapor lasers, solid-state lasers, laser applications in micromachining and medicine, and nanotechnology for sensing and imaging.Piper earned
Monday, July 10, 2023
Mansoor Sheik-Bahae, Optica Fellow and 2012 recipient of the R. W. Wood Prize, passed away on 10 July 2023. He was known for his work in laser cooling in solids, ultrafast nonlinear optics, and nonlinear optics. Sheik-Bahae's work in the Z-scan technique was seminal and led to a standard tool in most nonlinear optics laboratories around the world. Mansoor Sheik-Bahae was a Distinguished