Hyatt M. Gibbs (6 August 1938 – 3 September 2012) was a notable physicist and professor at the University of Arizona College of Optical Sciences.[1] Well known for research in nonlinear optics and quantum optics, he authored a book on optical bistability, and was a recipient of the Humboldt Research Award and Michelson Medal.[2][3]

Education

Gibbs attended Mars Hill College and North Carolina State University in his home state, where he earned an A.A. degree in 1958 and a B.S. degree in 1960, respectively.[2] In 1965, he earned a Ph.D. in physics from the University of California at Berkeley with his thesis on Total Spin-Exchange Cross-Sections for Alkali Atoms from Optical Pumping Experiments.[4]

Career

After earning his Ph.D., Gibbs remained at U.C. Berkeley as an Acting Assistant Professor until 1967. He then joined Bell Labs in Berkeley Heights, New Jersey where he worked until 1980.[2] During his work there he collaborated on numerous experiments, including research on optical energy transfer in crystals with Samuel L. McCall and Steven Chu, a Nobel Prize winner and the United States Secretary of Energy.[5] For one year during this period, 1975 to 1976, he was an exchange scientist at Philips in Eindhoven, Holland. He was also a visiting lecturer at Princeton University from 1978 to 1979.[2]

In 1980 he moved to Tucson, Arizona to become a professor at the Optical Sciences Center at the University of Arizona. Here he founded the Optical Circuitry Cooperative in 1984, which conducted research relevant to optical processing, funded jointly by industry leaders in optics and optoelectronics.[2] He remained its director until 1991 when the role was given to his collaborator, Dr. Nasser Peyghambarian.[6] Gibbs was able to concentrate more fully on his research, particularly his work with Dr. Galina Khitrova (whom he married in 1986) and Dr. Stephan W. Koch on the quantum nano-optics of semiconductors.[7] Gibbs became a professor emeritus in 2011, but continued his work until his death in 2012.[1]

Honors

Asteroid Hyatt

The unusual main-belt asteroid 221628 Hyatt was named in his honor on 3 July 2012 (M.P.C. 79912),[9] just two months before he died. The asteroid was discovered by his son Alex Gibbs of the Catalina Sky Survey, who proposed the name to the Minor Planet Center of the International Astronomical Union.[10]

Personal life

Gibbs' first marriage was to Lethia, with whom he had a son, Alex, and a daughter, Vanetta. His second marriage was to Galina Khitrova, with whom he collaborated professionally.[7] On September 3, 2012, Hyatt M. Gibbs died in France at the age of 74 from mesothelioma complications.[1]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Waller, Kristin (12 September 2012). "In Memoriam: Hyatt M. Gibbs". Lo Que Pasa, University of Arizona. Archived from the original on 10 December 2012. Retrieved 17 September 2012. {{cite web}}: External link in |publisher= (help)
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Hyatt M. Gibbs". University of Arizona College of Optical Sciences. August 2009. Archived from the original on August 14, 2012. Retrieved 17 September 2012.
  3. ↑ Gibbs, Hyatt (1985), Optical Bistability: Controlling Light With Light, Orlando, Florida: Academic Press, ISBN 0122819403
  4. ↑ Gibbs, Hyatt (12 March 1965), Total Spin-Exchange Cross-Sections for Alkali Atoms from Optical Pumping Experiments, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, University of California at Berkeley, Bibcode:1965PhDT........33G, OSTI 4595958
  5. ↑ Chu, Steven (January 2003). "The Manipulation of Neutral Particles" (PDF). Nobel Lectures, Physics 1996-2000. Singapore: World Scientific Publishing Co.: 122. ISBN 981-238-003-5. Retrieved 17 September 2012.
  6. ↑ "Nasser Peyghambarian". University of Arizona College of Optical Sciences. Archived from the original on 17 January 2013. Retrieved 17 September 2012.
  7. 1 2 "QNOS: Quantum Nano-Optics of Semiconductors". University of Arizona College of Optical Sciences. Retrieved 17 September 2012.
  8. ↑ "Hyatt M. Gibbs - The Franklin Institute Awards - Laureate Database". The Franklin Institute. Archived from the original on 1 June 2010. Retrieved 17 September 2012. {{cite web}}: External link in |publisher= (help)
  9. ↑ "MPC/MPO/MPS Archive" (PDF). Minor Planet Center. Retrieved 14 April 2018.
  10. ↑ "(221628) Hyatt". Minor Planet Center. Retrieved 17 September 2012.
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