Rochester Starts Fund Raising for Mandel Endowment Fund in Spring 2003
The Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Rochester is starting a fund raising drive for an endowment fund established in memory of Professor Leonard Mandel. The fund will be used to support the Leonard Mandel Faculty Scholar Award in Physics at the University of Rochester. The Mandel Faculty Scholar Award will be given for a fixed period to a faculty member at Rochester who is doing outstanding work in the field of optical science. As part of the award (assuming that the total fundraising goal is met) the funds will be used by the Mandel Faculty Scholar to support a graduate student .
Leonard Mandel, who died at age 73 on February 9, 2001, was DuBridge Professor Emeritus of Physics and Optics at the University and one of the world's leading physicists. A recipient of the Frederic Ives Medal and Max Born Award of the Optical Society of America, the Italian National Research Council's Marconi Medal, and the Thomas Young Medal from the British Institute of Physics, Mandel was a fellow of the American Physical Society, the Optical Society of America, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He was elected posthumously to the National Academy of Sciences. The Optical Society of America (OSA) held a special memorial session in Mandel's honor.
Professor Mandel was a pioneer in the branch of physics known as quantum optics, the study of the physics of light at its most fundamental level. He was known internationally for his ground-breaking experiments on the nature of light and was the first actually to observe a number of remarkable phenomena predicted by quantum theory. The research Professor Mandel conducted in this area became a landmark in the field and a signature of the entire Rochester quantum optics endeavor.
Not since the early days of quantum mechanics has one individual so intimately investigated and so dramatically advanced our understanding of the quantum aspects of light. It is for this reason that the University of Rochester can rightfully claim to have been the birthplace of quantum optics. Within the Department of Physics and Astronomy, Mandel found a lifelong colleague and friend in Emil Wolf, whose work on coherence theory has received international acclaim and whose text "Principles of Optics" (co-authored with Nobel Laureate Max Born) is still regarded as the definitive book on classical optics. Mandel and Wolf coauthored the well known book "Optical Coherence and Quantum Optics". Subsequently the strength of optics in the department has grown steadily, first through the work of Joseph Eberly, author of several popular texts including "Optical Resonance and Two-Level Atoms and Lasers", and then through vigorous, comprehensive experimental and theoretical optics programs guided by Professors Govind Agrawal, Nicholas Bigelow, Robert Boyd, John Howell, and Ian Walmsley.
At Rochester, optical physics finds its home not only in the Department of Physics and Astronomy but also in the Institute of Optics, an academic department that supports the nation's oldest degree-granting program in optics. Len Mandel was involved in the Institute for many years, and he held a joint appointment as professor of optics. Optical physics is not confined to these departments, however; it pervades programs across the University. The Rochester Theory Center for Optical Science and Engineering, the Departments of Chemistry, Mechanical Engineering,and Electrical and Computer Engineering; the Center for Visual Studies; the Center for Optical Manufacturing; the Laboratory for Laser Energetics; and the Center for Quantum Information. These are just a few of the other sources of optics research at the University of Rochester.
Len Mandel helped to shape this entire enterprise, and its impact on optics at national and international levels is profound. He was an early organizer of the international conference series "Coherence and Quantum Optics", which started in the 1960s and continues to be to be held on campus, while national professional societies such as the Optical Society of America regularly come to Rochester to hold their meetings. Indeed it is hard to participate in a major conference or attend a workshop on optics without meeting someone who has a connection to the University either as a former student, a fellow, or through training by a Rochester-educated researcher. Leonard Mandel and his colleagues at the University have taught students who are now leaders in optics in academia, in industry, and at national laboratories. In 1992, Mandel was awarded the University's Faculty Award for Graduate Teaching. He also developed the University's first physics course geared specifically for non-science majors, teaching the course regularly for 20 years.
By creating an endowment at the University of Rochester in honor of the career of Leonard Mandel, one can be sure that Professor Mandel's devotion to research and education in optics - a field at the frontier of modern science and technology - will be carried on.
Colleagues and students of Len Mandel, led by Professor H. Jeffrey Kimble from California Institute of Technology (who earned his doctorate under Professor Mandel and is a member of the National Academy of Sciences), plan to officially announce the start of the fundraising at the 2003 CLEO/QELS meeting, which is jointly sponsored bythe Optical Society of America and the American Physical Society. The CLEO/QELS 2003 combines the 23rd annual Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics (CLEO 2003) and the 11th Quantum Electronics and Laser Science Conference (QELS 2003). It will be held at the Baltimore Convention Center in Baltimore, Maryland, in June 2003. The fundraising drive will also be announced in the Spring 2003 of Cross Sections, the annual newsletter of the Department of Physics and Astronomy.
Professor Peter Knight, head of the physics department at Imperial College in London (and also fellow of the Royal Society and vice president of the Optical Society of America) states, "I regard Leonard Mandel as one of the truly great figures of the 20th Century in optics."
The goal for the endowment fund is $500,000. The department is hoping to raise the funds over the next three years to support fully the professorship and graduate fellowship components.
For additional information, contact the Department of Physics and Astronomy, at (585) 275-4344
Contributions can be mailed to:
Leonard Mandel Fund,
Department of Physics and Astronomy,
University of Rochester, Rochester, NY 14627
For links to Mandel obituraries in various newspapers and journals click here. here.
Article submitted by:
Arie Bodek
11/25/02; 10:18:53 AM