Emil Wolf Remembered

Friends and colleagues of Emil Wolf gathered yesterday to honor the memory of one of the most recognized optical scientists of his generation.

Seventeen researchers who worked directly with the Wilson Professor of Optical Physics, or were influenced by him, spoke at a symposium attended by more than 60 people in the Hawkins-Carlson Room. Afterward, about 120 people attended a memorial service and reception.

Wolf’s pioneering theories connected fundamental equations describing electromagnetism to the observable properties of light. (Read more here.) “He was my mentor and my friend and my measuring stick for what is good and what is decent,” writes Scott Carney ’99 (PhD), director of the Institute of Optics and one of Wolf’s students, in a tribute in Rochester Review.