In a ceremony immediately preceding the SPIE Optical Systems Design plenary, VNF Ltd owner Philip J. Rogers was awarded the 2018 A.E. Conrady Award winner for his extensive contributions to optical design
SPIE Vice-President John Greivenkamp presents SPIE Fellow Philip J. Rogers with the 2018 A.E. Conrady Award at SPIE Optical Systems Design in Frankfurt, Germany
BELLINGHAM, Washington, USA and CARDIFF, UK - During a ceremony immediately preceding SPIE Optical Systems Design in Frankfurt, Germany, this morning, SPIE Fellow Philip J. Rogers was awarded the A.E. Conrady Award by SPIE Vice-President John Greivenkamp. Rogers, owner of the UK-based optical design consulting firm VNF Ltd, received the award for his numerous significant contributions to the art of optical design - especially for designs optimized for manufacture - and for his efforts in furthering education in optical design.
A professional optical designer for more than 50 years, Rogers' early training included six years under the rigorous eye of David Demaine, recipient of the 2002 SPIE A.E. Conrady Award. Rogers then joined the newly-created electro-optics company PPE, a joint venture between Pilkington in the UK and Perkin-Elmer in the US. He became the company's chief optical designer at 26, and stayed with the company for nearly 40 years.
During his time at PPE (later Thales, now Qioptiq), Rogers had the dual responsibility of running the optical design team and acting as the lead optical designer, working on state-of-the-art requirements. Some of his personal concepts and designs that were regarded as being cutting-edge at their time included wide-angle holographic head-up displays, including the first that incorporated correction for dynamic aircraft canopy effects; infrared zoom lenses, including low-mass designs that employed diffractive surfaces; a large diffraction-limited optic with passive correction for temperature, air pressure and the effects of significant return-beam decentration; the highest magnification biocular magnifier with built-in angled output; and several novel, low-mass optics for night vision systems.
"I had the privilege of working for and with Phil for 15 years as part of his Optical Design Team," says SPIE Member and optical design manager at Raytheon ELCAN Optical Technologies Reginald Jonas. "He was universally respected by his team, always able to offer advice and encouragement when problems needed to be solved, and always able to suggest or find a path forward. During his time as chief optical designer at PPE, Phil led the team in designing and committing to manufacture many leading-edge, innovative optical systems over a wide variety of requirements and platforms."
Involved with SPIE since 1978, Rogers has contributed 27 papers to SPIE, as well as serving as on multiple SPIE committees. He holds 27 patents, and is the recipient of the Queen's Honors Member of the British Empire (MBE) for services to optical design.
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