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In Memoriam: John Sheridan, 1964 - 2022
Nov 01, 2022
John Sheridan, Optica Fellow and Professor of Optical Engineering at University College Dublin (UCD), Ireland, passed away on 1 November 2022. Sheridan’s research interests included optical engineering and applied optoelectronics, fundamentals of optics and the electromagnetic theory of diffraction, and optical signal processing. Sheridan was made an Optica Fellow in 2017 for his leadership in the promotion of optics education, research, and commercial development, especially in his native Ireland.
Sheridan was born in Castlebar, Co. Mayo, Ireland, where he attended St Patrick's National School and St Gerald's College. He received his Bachelor’s degree in Electronic Engineering from the University College Galway (NUIG) in 1985, and his Master’s degree in the Science of Electrical Engineering, (MScEE), from Georgia Institute of Technology, in 1986. During his time at the Georgia Institute of Technology, Sheridan worked with Optica Fellow Bill Rhodes. Following his study at Georgia Tech, Sheridan applied for, and received a scholarship to attend Jesus College Oxford. At Oxford, he was supervised by Laszlo Solymar as well as Optica Fellow Colin Sheppard and studied electromagnetism, holography and confocal microscopy under their supervision, completing his PhD in 1991.
He completed postdoctoral fellowships in Germany (Erlangen) and then took a research position in Italy. Sheridan returned to Ireland in 1997 to work as a lecturer in Dublin Institute of Technology, and three years later joined the UCD School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering. In addition to being a professor at UCD, Sheridan co-founded several companies including Equilume, which develops bio-optimized lighting for horses. Sheridan was an active engineering consultant and served as the Vice-Principal for Research & Innovation – College of Engineering & Architecture, and Head of School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering at UCD.
Sheridan was actively engaged in Optica through various volunteer roles beginning in 2008 through 2022. Examples of his volunteer activities include serving as the student advisor to the UCD Student Chapter, being a member of the editorial board of Applied Optics, and most recently serving as a guest editor for the Applied Optics/JOSA A feature issue from the Digital Holography and Three-Dimensional Imaging meeting. He also served on the Hopkins Leadership Award Committee in 2017-2020.
While Sheridan was an accomplished researcher, it was his devotion to his students, colleagues and family that was key to making him a giant in the field. He believed it was a privilege to work at a university and to be able to interact with motivated and clever students. His former PhD students hold positions all over the world. Sheridan said that it’s important to realize that “people come into their own at different times” and that just because someone might not have outstanding exam results right now does not mean they won’t go on to make great discoveries. Derek Cassidy, one of Sheridan’s current PhD students noted, “He was such a huge figure in UCD, always making sure everybody did well but he did not take prisoners or suffer fools gladly…that I did know and I knew he knew the work pressures I was under but he was always there to remind me, coax me and give me encouragement and if I needed it a kick to keep me going.”
Sheridan’s colleague and friend John Healy noted, "Sean was a warm, funny, generous man. He was always full of stories, ideas, jokes, and plans. I owe him a great deal for his constant support throughout my career, and I am so proud of our body of work together. I've had this sad cause to talk to many of his other former students in the past couple of days, and every one of them had a similar experience of him. As we say in Ireland, 'Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam': may his soul go to God's right hand side."
John Sheridan will be dearly missed by many within the scientific community. Optica mourns his loss.
