OSA mourns passing of Charles Townes

THE Optical Society (OSA) is mourning the loss of Charles Townes, OSA Fellow and recipient of the Frederic Ives Medal (1996), who died on 27 January 2015 at the age of 99.

 

OSA 2014 President Philip Bucksbaum said Townes’s death marks the passing of an era. “For more than 60 years Charlie Townes was a towering influence in American physics. He was a wonderful physicist and a very generous person,” Mr. Bucksbaum added.

 

According to OSA CEO Elizabeth Rogan, “Townes was a bright light and significant pioneer in our field. On behalf of the OSA community, I express our warmest sympathies to Charles' family and colleagues.”

 

A luminary in the field of optics and photonics, Mr. Townes was highly regarded by colleagues and the numerous students he mentored. He received 27 honorary degrees from various universities. In addition to the Nobel Prize, he was given the Templeton Prize for contributions to the understanding of religion and a number of other awards.

 

Interest in Mr. Townes’s research has garnered fellowships around the globe and travels to France, Japan, Italy, Canada, Germany, and India.  He served on a number of scientific committees advising government agencies. His active work in professional societies included being a member and vice chairman of the Science Advisory Committee to the President of the U.S. He was the chairman of the Advisory Committee for the first human landing on the moon, and chairman of the Defense Department’s Committee on the MX missile. He also served on the boards of General Motors and Perkins Elmer Corporations.

 

Born on July 28, 1915 in Greenville, South Carolina, Charles Hard Townes obtained a B.S. in physics and a B.A. in Modern Languages in 1935 from the Furman University in Greenville. Fascinated by physics since his first course in the subject during his sophomore year in college because of its "beautifully logical structure,” Mr. Townes took an M.A. in physics at Duke University in 1936 and graduate school at the California Institute of Technology. He received his Ph.D. in physics in 1939 with a thesis on isotope separation and nuclear spins.

 

OSA, which was founded in 1916, is the leading professional organization for scientists, engineers, students, and entrepreneurs who fuel discoveries, shape real-life applications, and accelerate achievements in the science of light. It is a founding partner of the National Photonics Initiative and the 2015 International Year of Light.