The David Richardson Medal is awarded by the Optical Society (formerly the Optical Society of America) to recognize contributions to optical engineering, primarily in the commercial and industrial sector. The award was first made in 1966 to its namesake, David J. Richardson. He received it for his distinctive contributions to the ruling and replication of gratings used to determine the transfer functions of lenses. There is a prize associated with the medal.

Richardson received a graduate degree in spectroscopy from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the mid-1930s. He was hired by Bausch and Lomb in 1947 to establish a grating and scale-ruling laboratory that became the world's leader in diffraction gratings. The lab, which was renamed for him in 1966, has since 2004 belonged to the Newport Corporation.

Recipients Year Recipient2026William Cassarly2025Marija Strojnik Scholl2024Radhakrishnan Nagarajan2023Turan Erdogan2022Jim Tatum2021Majid Ebrahim-Zadeh2020 G. Michael Morris2019 Frederick J. Leonberger2018 Steve Frisken2017 John Canning2016 Francisco J. Duarte2015 Daniel R. Neal2014 Jannick P. Rolland 2012 Gregory W. Forbes 2011 Jasbinder S. Sanghera 2011 Ishwar D. Aggarwal 2010 Kenneth E. Moore 2009 Eric Udd 2008 Kanti Jain 2007 James L. Fergason 2006 Gary S Duck 2005 John R. Sandercock 2004 Chungte W. Chen 2003 Roland V. Shack 2002 Arthur H. Guenther 2001 Huib Visser 2000 Achim J. Leistner 1999 Milan R. Kokta 1998 Yoshiharu Namba 1997 Brian H. Welham 1996 J. A. Dobrowolski 1995 Julian Stone 1994 David A. Markle 1993 John H. Bruning 1992 Ichiro Kitano 1991 Gary K. Starkweather 1990 Jean M. Bennett 1989 Erik W. Anthon 1988 Janusz S. Wilczynski 1987 John W. Evans 1986 John L. Plummer 1985 Norman John Brown 1984 Erwin G. Loewen 1983 Harold Osterberg 1982 Charles A. Burrus 1981 Abe Offner 1980 William T. Plummer 1980 Richard F. Weeks 1979 William P. Ewald 1978 Thomas James Johnson 1977 Walter P. Siegmund 1976 John McLeod 1975 Karl Lambrecht 1974 Roderic M. Scott 1972 William G. Fastie 1971 Frank Cooke 1970 Richard S. Hunter 1969 Howard Cary 1968 Harold E. Edgerton 1967 George A. Morton 1966 David J. Richardson

See also List of physics awards

References