Richard C. Powell
{{Short description|American physicist}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name = Richard C. Powell
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| caption = Richard C. Powell
| birth_date = {{birth year and age|1939}}
| birth_place =Lincoln, Nebraska, United States
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| fields = Physics
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| alma_mater = Arizona State University
| thesis_title = The Interaction of Chromium Ions in Ruby Crystals
| thesis_url = http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?Location=U2&doc=GetTRDoc.pdf&AD=AD0651914
| thesis_year = 1966
| doctoral_advisor =Baldassare Di Bartolo
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Richard C. Powell (born 1939) is an American professor emeritus of physics and vice president emeritus of the University of Arizona (UA), whose career focused on research in materials science and laser optics. He served as president of the Optical Society of America in 2000.{{cite news|url=http://www.osa.org/aboutosa/leadership/pastpresidents/default.aspx|title=Past Presidents of the Optical Society of America|publisher=Optical Society of America|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090120044158/http://osa.org/aboutosa/leadership/pastpresidents/default.aspx|archivedate=January 20, 2009}}
Early life and education
Powell was born in Lincoln, Nebraska, and was reared in Ottumwa, Iowa.{{Cite web|url=http://www.osa.org/osaorg/media/osa.history/Transcripts/Richard_Powell_InterviewRev.pdf|title=Interview with Richard Powell (Part 1 of 3)|last=Kinnane|first=Adrian|date=February 19, 2012|website=Optical Society of America|access-date=April 18, 2017}} He graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1962 and took his commission in the U.S. Air Force because the Air Force offered immediate support for study in a Ph.D. program. At Arizona State University he earned an M.S.; he completed a Ph.D. in physics there in 1967.
Career
Powell completed his military service at the Air Force Cambridge Research Laboratories and then worked as a civilian at Sandia National Laboratory. He taught at California Institute of Technology, Oklahoma State University and the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, Instituto de Fisica. Powell joined the faculty of the University of Arizona as a professor of optical sciences and of materials science and director of the Optical Sciences Center. He later served as vice president for research and graduate studies, and upon retirement, became professor emeritus of optical sciences.{{Cite web|url=https://www.photonics.com/Article.aspx?AID=21642|title=UA Optical Center Honors Innovators|date=April 4, 2005|website=Photonics media|access-date=2017-04-18}}
Following his retirement, he became a senior fellow at the UA Science and Tech Park, expanding "their Solar Zone to test, evaluate and demonstrate solar technologies."
Publications
Powell has written textbooks and published 260 research articles on laser spectroscopy and solid state laser development.{{cite book|author=Gordon W. F. Drake|title=Springer Handbook of Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Physics|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Jj-ad_2aNOAC&pg=PA1419|year=2006|publisher=Springer Science & Business Media|isbn=978-0-387-26308-3|pages=1419–}}
His textbooks are Physics of Solid-State Laser Materials, {{Cite book|url=https://www.springer.com/us/book/9781563966583|title=Physics of Solid-State Laser Materials|last=Powell|first=Richard C.|publisher=Springer-Verlag|year=1998|isbn=978-1-56396-658-3|location=New York|pages=|language=en|series=Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics Series}} Symmetry, Group Theory, and the Physical Properties of Crystals,{{Cite book|title=Symmetry, Group Theory, and the Physical Properties of Crystals|volume = 824|last=Powell|first=Richard C|publisher=Springer-Verlag|year=2010|isbn=978-1-4419-7597-3|location=New York|pages=|language=en|doi=10.1007/978-1-4419-7598-0|series = Lecture Notes in Physics|url = https://cds.cern.ch/record/1338617}} and with Baldassare Di Bartolo, Crystal Symmetry, Lattice Vibrations and Optical Spectroscopy of Solids.{{Cite book|title=Crystal Symmetry, Lattice Vibrations and Optical Spectroscopy of Solids|last=Di Bartolo|first=Baldassare|last2=Powell|first2=Richard C|publisher=World Scientific|year=2014|isbn=978-981-4579-20-9|location=|pages=|language=en-US|doi=10.1142/9052}}
Awards and honors
The University of Arizona honored Powell as an innovator with a 2005 Technology Innovation Award for "moving UA technology out of the laboratory and into the marketplace." Powell is an elected Fellow of the American Physical Society, and also an elected Fellow of the Optical Society of America.{{Cite web|url=https://www.optics.arizona.edu/news-events/news/quicknews/reflections-richard-c-powell|title=Reflections: Richard C. Powell {{!}} College of Optical Sciences {{!}} The University of Arizona|last=Orr|first=Tammy|date=March 30, 2017|website=www.optics.arizona.edu|access-date=2017-04-18}}
In 1999, he was also elected to the Russian Academy of Engineer Science.
See also
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20210517133627/https://www.osapublishing.org/josa100/modernosapresidents.cfm JOSA Articles Published by Modern OSA Presidents], Journal of the Optical Society of America
- [http://www.osa.org/en-us/media_library/osa_history/interviews/interview-richard-powell/ Interview - Richard Powell, Part 1] (video, 30:00)
- [http://www.osa.org/en-us/media_library/osa_history/interviews/interview-richard-powell/ Interview - Richard Powell, Part 2] (video, 30:00)
- [http://www.osa.org/en-us/media_library/osa_history/interviews/interview-richard-powell/ Interview - Richard Powell, Part 3] (video, 14:12)
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Category:Presidents of Optica (society)
Category:21st-century American physicists
Category:Fellows of the American Physical Society
Category:University of Arizona faculty
Category:Arizona State University alumni