World Renowned Physicist to Address Optical Science
COLLEGE STATION —
Dr. Emil Wolf, Wilson Professor of Optical Physics at the University of Rochester and a world renowned authority on physical optics, will visit the Texas A&M University campus next week to deliver two presentations on optical science as part of the Department of Physics Distinguished Lecture Series.
On Wed., Mar. 9, Wolf will present “Scientists Who Created the World of Optics,” an overview of the lives and contributions of 21 great scientists from Galileo Galilee to Paul Dirac who helped define the science of optics. The lecture, scheduled for 1:45 p.m. in Room 202 of the Engineering Physics Building, will feature portraits of these scientists as well as drawings and other photographs that will help to place their work in proper perspective.
On Thurs., Mar. 10, Wolf will focus on another of history’s great scientists, Thomas Young, as he sheds new light on one of the most beautiful physics experiments of all time performed by Young nearly 200 years ago and its continued relevance today in “Young’s Interference Experiment Two Hundred Years Later.” The presentation will begin at 4 p.m. in Room 202 of the Engineering Physics Building.
Dr. M. Suhail Zubairy, a professor of physics at Texas A&M who completed his Ph.D. thesis under Wolf’s supervision, describes Wolf as one of leading figures in optics of the 20th century. Also one of its most prolific writers, Wolf is the co-author of two popular books, “Principles of Optics,” considered one of the best books in classical optics ever written and now in its sixth edition after first being published in 1959, and “Optical Coherence and Quantum Optics,” published in 1995. In addition, he has served as editor of the 45-volume, ongoing series “Progress in Optics” since its inception in 1961.
A member of the University of Rochester faculty since 1959, Wolf has held research positions at Cambridge University, the University of Edinburgh and the University of Manchester. His many international professional honors include the Optical Society of America’s Frederic Ives Medal and Max Born Award, the Franklin Institute’s Michelson Medal, the Italian National Research Council’s Marconi Medal, the Czechoslovakian Academy of Science’s Gold Medal and the Union of Czechoslovakian Mathematicians and Physicists Medal. Wolf is an honorary member of the Optical Society of America, for which he served as president in 1978, as well as the Optical Societies of India and Australia. In addition, he is the recipient of seven honorary degrees from universities in the Netherlands, Great Britain, the Czech Republic and Canada.
Both presentations are open to the public. For more information on either topic or on Wolf, please contact the Department of Physics at (979) 845-7717.
-aTm-
Contact: Shana K. Hutchins, (979) 862-1237 or shutchins@science.tamu.edu or Dr. George Kattawar, (979) 845-1180 or kattawar@tamu.edu
The post World Renowned Physicist to Address Optical Science appeared first on Texas A&M College of Science