Obituary - Professor Brian John Thompson

Professor Emeritus at the University of Rochester, Brian J Thompson, passed away on 27 January 2024 at the age of 91.

Brian Thompson was a leading academic and researcher in coherent optics, holography, phase microscopy, image processing and partial coherent light. His studies and publications became standard works in academic and technical literature in these fields and he is credited with developing the first use of holography in the 1960’s, for dynamic particle size analysis, now used widely in many fields.

He published over 180 scientific and technical papers and also co-wrote several textbooks on optics. A UK native, Brian moved to the USA in 1963 to work in industry before joining the University of Rochester as Director of the prestigious Institute of Optics in 1968. Formerly the William F May Professor of Engineering, Director of the Institute of Optics, and then Dean of Engineering and finally Provost, Brian filled many roles in his career at Rochester.

A long serving member of the SPIE, he served on various committees and was president in 1975 and 1976. Other SPIE awards include the SPIE President’s Award (1967), the SPIE Rudolf and Hilda Kingslake Award in Optical Design (1977), the SPIE Gold Medal (1986), and the SPIE Director’s Award (1998).

In 2011, Brian received the SPIE Chandra S Vikram Award in Optical Metrology in recognition of his work on holographic, dynamic particle size analysis as well as for distinguished and all-around contributions to optics in general.

Today at the University of Rochester, a new professorship in optics bears his name - the Brian J Thompson Professorship in Optical Engineering.