1971 OSA President Bruce Hadley Billings graduated from Phillips Exeter Academy, received bachelors and master's degrees from Harvard University in 1936 and 1937, respectively, and received his doctorate from Johns Hopkins University in 1943.

From 1941 to 1947, Billings served as Polaroid's chief physicist, specializing in infrared research. He also served in the office of Scientific Research and Development and with the Army Air Force.  Baird left Polaroid to become director of research at Baird Associates and was later named general manager. Billings served as special assistant for science and technology at the U.S. Embassy in Taipai in the late 1960s.

Billings held a number of patents and was the author of numerous papers. He was a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a member of the Acoustical Society of America, the American Physical Society, and the American Rocket Society.

Bruce H. Billings died in 1992.