Marlan Scully - 1961

Leading national authority on laser and quantum mechanics

Known as the "Quantum Cowboy," Marlan Scully was eleced to the National Academy of Sciences in 2001 for his accomplishments in the fields of quantum optics, quantum computation, teleportation, and the slowing down of the speed of light. Scully is Distinguished Professor of Applied Physics Quantum Optics at Texas A&M, where he has been a faculty member since 1992. He holds the Hershel E. Burgess Chair in Physics and is also a professor in the department of electrical engineering. He is the director of Texas A&M's Center for Theoretical Physics.

Scully has earned Sloan and Guggenheim Fellowships and a Humboldt Distinguished Senior Faculty Award. He is a fellow of the American Physical Society, the Optical Society of America, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and is a member of the Max Planck Society, the German equivalent of the National Academy of Sciences.

Scully has received several awards, including the OSA Adolph E. Lomb Medal, the Elliott Cresson Medal of The Franklin Institute, the EG&G Medal of the Society for Optical and Quantum Electronics, and the 1998 Charles H. Townes Award from the Optical Society of America. His major research interests include quantum optics, laser physics, foundations of quantum mechanics, non-equilibrium statistical mechanics, and bioengineering.

Scully graduated from the University of Wyoming with a B.S. in engineering physics in 1961. He went on to earn his M.S. and Ph.D. in physics at Yale University in 1963 and 1966, respectively.

Photo courtesy of UW College of Arts and Sciences