About
03 May 2019
Optical Society Fellows Elected Members of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences
3 May 2019
Optical Society Fellows Elected Members of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences
Martin S. Banks, Roger W. Falcone and Michal Lipson join ranks of distinguished scholars providing science advice to the nation
WASHINGTON – The Optical Society is pleased to announce that three OSA Fellows are among the distinguished scientists elected this week to membership in the U.S. National Academy of Sciences (NAS). The new members are Martin S. Banks, University of California, Berkeley, U.S.A., Roger W. Falcone, UC Berkeley, U.S.A., and Michal Lipson, Columbia University, U.S.A.
Election to NAS membership is considered one of the highest honors accorded a U.S. scientist or engineer.
Caption: OSA Fellow Michal Lipson
Two OSA members were elected as NAS Foreign Associates: Rainer Blatt, University of Innsbruck, Austria, and Konstantin S. Novoselov, University of Manchester, U.K. Foreign associates are nonvoting members of the Academy who have citizenship outside the U.S.
“The Optical Society congratulates the OSA Fellows and Members who were elected to NAS,” said CEO Elizabeth A Rogan. “This recognition highlights significant contributions made by these talented scientists.”
The NAS, created in 1863 by an Act of U.S. Congress and dedicated to the furtherance of science, this year announced the election of 100 new members and 25 foreign associates.
About Professor Banks: Martin S. Banks is a UC Berkeley professor of optometry, vision science, neuroscience and psychology in the School of Optometry and the Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute. His research explores how humans use multiple senses to perceive the world around us and how this might affect our experience of 3-D virtual environments.
About Professor Falcone: UC Berkeley Physics professor Roger W. Falcone uses X-rays to study how materials behave under extreme temperatures and pressures. He is an affiliated member of Berkeley’s Energy and Resources Group and Applied Science and Technology Program.
About Professor Lipson: Michal Lipson is Eugene Higgins Professor of Electrical Engineering and professor of applied physics at Columbia U. Earlier this year she was awarded the Comstock Prize in Physics by NAS for her investigations in silicon photonics. Her research has established the groundwork for silicon photonics, technology, which uses optical rays to transfer data among computer chips. It is considered one of the most promising directions for solving major bottlenecks in microelectronics.
About Professor Blatt: Rainer Blatt is Professor of Experimental Physics at the University of Innsbruck. Since the mid-1990s, Blatt and his team have been working on the realization of quantum computers. Captured ions are the most advanced quantum information processing technology to date. Today, Blatt and colleagues control up to 20 ions and are able to perform computing operations on them.
About Professor Novoselov: 2010 Physics Nobel Laureate Konstantin S. Novoselov is Langworthy Professor of Physics and Royal Society Research Professor at The University of Manchester. He is best known for isolating graphene at U. of Manchester in 2004, and is an expert in condensed matter physics, mesoscopic physics and nanotechnology.
About The Optical Society
Founded in 1916, The Optical Society (OSA) is the leading professional organization for scientists, engineers, students and entrepreneurs who fuel discoveries, shape real-life applications and accelerate achievements in the science of light. Through world-renowned publications, meetings and membership initiatives, OSA provides quality research, inspired interactions and dedicated resources for its extensive global network of optics and photonics experts. For more information, visit osa.org.
Media Contacts:
mediarelations@osa.org
