OSA Fellow Joseph A Giordmaine attended the University of Toronto and studied physics for his undergraduate degree. He then moved to Columbia University to begin graduate work in physics in 1955 under Charles Townes. While there, Giordmaine worked extensively with the maser. After completing his Ph.D. and teaching for one year at Columbia, Giordmaine joined Bell Labs in Murray Hill, New Jersey in 1961. He remained there in a number of research and director positions until 1988 when he joined NEC Corporation.

While at Bell Labs, Giordmaine collaborated with Robert C. Miller and together they developed the optical parametric oscillator for which they won OSA’s R. W. Wood Prize in 1986.