The SPIE Maria Goeppert Mayer Award in Photonics is presented in recognition of outstanding contributions to the field of photonics and the development of innovative, high impact technologies. Honorarium of $2,000.
Dr. Maria Goeppert Mayer was a pioneering woman scientist and mathematician who was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1963 for proposing the nuclear shell model of the atomic nucleus. Her doctorate, written in 1930, was on the theory of possible two-photon absorption by atoms, and the invention of the laser 30 years later experimentally proved her theory. Two-photon absorption theory has been applied to imaging living cells, 3D optical data storage, 3D microfabrication and treating cancer with photodynamic therapy.
Current Winner
Jorge Ojeda-Castaneda, University of Guanajuato, Guanajuato, Mexico, is the 2021 recipient in recognition of his outstanding contributions to modern and advanced imaging technologies of the development of phase-space representations of imaging devices, which enable the design of innovative techniques for extending field depth, and for proposing novel designs employing lenses with tunable optical power.
