Jack Sugar
About Optica
In Memoriam: Jack Sugar, 1929 - 2009
15 August 2009
Jack Sugar, Optica Fellow (1971), passed away on 15 August 2009 at the age of 79. He was most known for his achievements in X-ray absorption in rare earth thin films, the interpretation of emission spectra of rare-earth ions, the spectra of highly ionized atoms, and the compilations of atomic energy levels and wavelengths.
Sugar was born on 22 December 1929 in Baltimore, Maryland. He went on to earn his bachelor’s, master’s, and doctorate degrees from Johns Hopkins University. After graduating, he worked at the National Bureau of Standards, today known as the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), as an atomic physicist. In 1966 he was awarded a Fulbright grant to conduct research in Bellevue, France, at the National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) under NIST’s institution. His achievements at NIST became a major factor in making it the main world resource for the radiative properties of atoms and atomic ions.
By 1976, Sugar became a member of Optica’s Board of Directors. In 1992 he joined the Journal of the Optical Society of America (JOSA) B Review Committee. In 1987, under NIST, he published a review of recent and imminent publications that included topics on atomic transition probabilities, wavelengths, energy levels, and collision cross-sections.
Sugar was awarded the U.S. Department of Commerce Silver and Gold Medal Awards in 1994 for his contributions to atomic data that allowed for progress in technologies and scientific research of national importance.
Optica and the scientific community mourn the loss of Jack Sugar.
