OSA Award Renamed in Honor of Paul F. Forman

The Optical Society of America (OSA) Foundation announced it has renamed its annual Engineering Excellence Award as the Paul F. Forman Engineering Excellence Award to honor optical engineering contributions by the late Paul F. Forman, cofounder of Zygo Corp. and OSA fellow. Forman, who died Nov. 17, received his BS from the University of Rochester. After graduation, he worked as an optical engineer at Perkin Elmer with Carl Zanoni and Sol Laufer; in 1970 the trio cofounded Zygo, a manufacturer of optical systems and components for metrology and end-user applications. Forman retired from the company in 1993 and then served as chairman emeritus. He was the recipient of many awards, including OSA's Edwin H. Land Medal, NASA’s Apollo Achievement Award (for the retroreflector array used on the first lunar landing) and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Society for Precision Engineering. He served two terms on the OSA board of directors, played a role in the creation of the OSA Foundation and championed the development of the Engineering Excellence Award in 1989 to increase the visibility of optical engineers. "Paul's contributions to the field of optical engineering -- in both the research and business arenas -- spanned more than 50 years," said Thomas Baer, OSA vice president. "It is our honor to recognize his legacy of industry achievements and his instrumental role in the establishment of this award by naming it after him." Zygo has contributed $50,000 toward a financial stipend to accompany the honor; the OSA Foundation said it will launch a fundraising campaign in support of the award, which is presented each fall during the OSA annual meeting, Frontiers in Optics.