Honorary Members
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Honorary Members
The most distinguished of all member categories, Honorary Membership is awarded to individuals who have made unique, seminal contributions to the field of optics.
The roster of living Honorary Members demonstrates the high stature of this designation: Alain Aspect, Robert L Byer, Milton Chang, Steven Chu, Claude Cohen-Tannoudji, Joseph H. Eberly, Elsa M. Garmire, Joseph W. Goodman, John L. Hall, Theodor W. Hänsch, Stephen E. Harris, Erich Ippen, Donald B. Keck, Peter L Knight, Herwig Kogelnik, John C. Mather, William D. Phillips, Donna Strickland, David J. Wineland, and Amnon Yariv.
Honorary Members are elected by unanimous vote of the Board of Directors upon nomination by the Presidential Advisory Committee and unanimous endorsement by the Awards Council. The number of living Honorary Members cannot exceed two-thousandths (2/1000) of the total membership of the society.
Honorary Members receive a complimentary lifetime membership and other special recognitions of their distinguished status, including complimentary meeting registrations and journal subscriptions.
Nominations
Any member may nominate someone to the status of Honorary Membership by sending a 1-page advocacy statement discussing the candidate to awards@optica.org or mail to:
Awards Office
Optica
2010 Massachusetts Ave., NW
Washington, DC, USA 20036
Nomination Deadline: 1 May
2024
For remarkable and varied contributions to quantum optics, ranging from foundations to applications, and his unique combination of educational, organizational, and globally active leadership skills
2023
For pioneering contributions to the scientific and technological foundations of lasers and nonlinear optics, dedicated service to the optics community, and leadership in academia and professional societies
2023
For his pioneering contributions to advancing the science and technology of quantitative interferometric metrology, his leadership as an educator and entrepreneur, and his visionary service to the global optics and photonics community
2022
For major contributions to Optica and to the optics and photonics community through pioneering innovative research, exemplary leadership, and exceptional service as a role model for young scientists and engineers
2022
For illuminating fundamental aspects of the quantum-mechanical behavior of single photons, photon pairs and atoms and transforming our understanding of the quantum world
2021
For pioneering contributions to the foundations of quantum optics theory and for his dedicated service to the optics community and visionary leadership in promoting international cooperation in optics research
2020
For his visionary and inspirational leadership in building companies and fostering entrepreneurship in photonics, and his generous, ongoing support of OSA
2020
For laying the foundations of ultrafast science and engineering, as well as providing inspiring leadership to the optics community
2019
For contributions to nonlinear optics and optoelectronics, leadership in linking science and public policy, and for service to OSA
2018
For fundamental contributions in the fields of Fourier Optics and Optical Information Processing through his research, teaching and classic textbooks
2017
For pioneering scientific and engineering contributions to photonics and quantum electronics that have profoundly impacted lightwave communications and the field of optics as a whole
2017
For pioneering advances in laser cooling of ions together with unprecedented control of individual ions in foundational experiments of quantum optics and quantum information
2016
For measuring, with his COBE team, the cosmic background radiation and its anisotropy with amazing precision from 50 to 600 GHz. The temperature of the Big Bang radiation was determined as 2.725 +/‐ 0.001K. According to the Nobel committee the COBE project can be regarded as the starting point of cosmology as a precision science
2015
For fundamental, inventive and widely influential contributions to optics and photonics including the visible LED and the quantum well diode laser, technologies underlying solid-state lighting, the internet, and high performance computing
2014
For pioneering introduction of Q-switches to lasers and profoundly influential contributions to the science of nonlinear optics, including stimulated light scattering, origins of nonlinear refractive index, photorefractivity and phase conjugation
2013
For pioneering and profoundly influential contributions to the science of light, including optical parametric emission, lasing without inversion, electromagnetically induced transparency, and single cycle optical pulse generation
2012
For breakthrough contributions to the field of optical communications, including the invention of the first low-loss optical fiber, and for a history of service to OSA
2011
For his exceptional leadership of the OSA as its Executive Director from 1969 through 1994 and the profound influence that he has had on making the society the success that it is today
2010
For his numerous high-impact, seminal contributions to quantum electronics and photonics, including the first demonstration of the maser
2009
For his pioneering work on optical trapping and the development of optical tweezers
2007
For pioneering work on high-precision laser metrology and fundamental optical tests of physical principles
2005
For achievements in several areas of optics and photonics, contributions to lightwave communications by directing industrial research and for leadership in the scientific community
2002
For outstanding leadership in quantum optics, from initial studies of optical pumping, through seminal work on sub-Doppler limit laser cooling
2001
Aleksandr Mikhailovish Prokhorov *
For his distinguished contributions and monumental role over the past 45 years in creating and developing quantum electronics
2000
In recognition of his fundamental and pioneering contributions to laser physics
1981
For pioneering work in aluminization of telescope mirrors, development of grating engines, infrared instrumentation and spectroscopy, and atmospheric and planetary physics using balloon-borne equipment
1980
In recognition of the preeminent service he has rendered in the advancement of optics
1968
In recognition of the preeminent service he has rendered in the advancement of optics
1950
In recognition of his preeminent service in the advancement of optics
1941
Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman *
In recognition of his preeminent service in the advancement of optics
1922
In recognition of his preeminent service in the advancement of optics
* Deceased