Richard F Weeks started his career in optics at the University of Rochester in the Institute of Optics. He spent some years with Richard D. Brew and Company, Inc. before joining Polaroid Corporation. In 1980, he received OSA’s David Richardson Medal “for his outstanding program leadership and innovative optical design, his fundamental studies and creative tooling that made possible the accurate and economical high-volume manufacture of the unusual optical system of the SX-70 camera.” He was elected a Fellow of OSA the following year, 1981.