Honorary Members

Get Involved

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

Peter L Knight

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

Robert L Byer

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

James C Wyant *

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

Donna T Strickland

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

Alain Aspect

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

Joseph H Eberly

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

Milton M T Chang

For his visionary and inspirational leadership in building companies and fostering entrepreneurship in photonics, and his generous, ongoing support of OSA

2020

Erich P Ippen

For laying the foundations of ultrafast science and engineering, as well as providing inspiring leadership to the optics community

2019

Elsa M Garmire

For contributions to nonlinear optics and optoelectronics, leadership in linking science and public policy, and for service to OSA

2018

Joseph W Goodman

For fundamental contributions in the fields of Fourier Optics and Optical Information Processing through his research, teaching and classic textbooks

2017

Amnon Yariv

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

David J Wineland

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

John C Mather

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

Nick Holonyak, Jr. *

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

Robert W Hellwarth *

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

Stephen E Harris

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

Donald B Keck

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

Jarus W Quinn *

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

James Gordon *

For his numerous high-impact, seminal contributions to quantum electronics and photonics, including the first demonstration of the maser

2009

Arthur Ashkin *

For his pioneering work on optical trapping and the development of optical tweezers

2008

Roy J Glauber *

For pioneering work on quantum optics and coherent states

2008

Theodor W Haensch

For pioneering work on laser spectroscopy and optical combs

2007

John L Hall

For pioneering work on high-precision laser metrology and fundamental optical tests of physical principles

2005

Herwig Kogelnik

For achievements in several areas of optics and photonics, contributions to lightwave communications by directing industrial research and for leadership in the scientific community

2004

William D Phillips

For development of methods to cool and trap atoms with laser light

2003

Steven Chu

For development of methods to cool and trap atoms with laser light

2002

Claude Cohen-Tannoudji

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

Willis E Lamb, Jr. *

In recognition of his fundamental and pioneering contributions to laser physics

1993

James G Baker *

In recognition of his preeminent service in the advancement of optics

1992

George Wald *

In recognition of his preeminent service in the advancement of optics

1987

Emil Wolf *

In recognition of his preeminent service in the advancement of optics

1986

Andre Marechal *

In recognition of his preeminent service in the advancement of optics

1984

Rudolf Kingslake *

In recognition of his preeminent service in the advancement of optics

1984

Nicolaas Bloembergen *

For unique, unparalleled contributions to the field of optics

1983

Arthur L Schawlow *

In recognition of his preeminent service in the advancement of optics

1981

John Donovan Strong *

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