Institute of Optics papers

Following a decade of discussions among the Optical Society of America, President Rush Rhees, Bausch & Lomb, and Eastman Kodak about the development of a site for the study of optics, the Institute of Applied Optics at the University of Rochester opened in 1929. T. Russell Wilkins was the first acting director, and among the early faculty members were Rudolf Kingslake, A.M. Taylor, Ernst Petry, and Gustave Fassin. Until 1936, the Institute included an optometry program. In 1939, the name of the Institute of Applied Optics (which suggested a focus on the application of optical concepts) was changed to the Institute of Optics in order to accommodate more topics of study.

From 1940 to 1953, the Institute was involved in various research projects, including the theodolite telescope and high-speed streak camera experiments during World War II. In 1955, the University acquired its first computer, an important asset to the Institute. In the following years, the newsletter entitled the Institute of Optics News (which later became Image) was founded, and the Institute began providing summer school opportunities. In 1961, the Institute of Optics became one of the engineering branches under the College of Engineering and Applied Science. The Center for Visual Science, involving collaboration between Institute faculty and other departments, was founded in 1963. The field of optics and the Institute gained heightened attention in the 1960s with the invention of the laser. In 1963, the Institute held a Laser Road Show, in which Institute faculty gave traveling lectures about lasers. In the 1970s, the Institute introduced an Industrial Associates Program, inviting representatives from optics companies to the Institute to visit and meet with students and faculty. In 1976, the Laboratory for Laser Energetics was built to house the Laser Fusion Feasibility Project, which relied on research by Institute of Optics faculty and students. The same year, the Institute moved from Bausch & Lomb Hall to the Space Science Center (later named the Wilmot Building) to allow for more space. In March 2007, Goergen Hall was built and connected to Wilmot to house laboratories, faculty offices, and classrooms for the Institute and the Biomedical Engineering Department.

The directors of the Institute, organized by date of appointment, have been:

1938: Brian O’Brien

1954: Robert E. Hopkins

1965: Lewis Hyde

1968: Brian J. Thompson

1977: Nicholas George

1981: Kenneth J. Teegarden

1987: Duncan Moore

1993: Dennis Hall

2001: Wayne Knox

2011: Xi-Cheng Zhang

2017: P. Scott Carney

2021: Thomas G. Brown