Joseph Charles Marron (born 1959) is an American optical engineer and a principal engineering fellow at Raytheon. He is known for his work in developing advanced laser radar and the invention of holographic laser radar. He is a fellow of the Optical Society of America and in June 2018 was awarded the 10 millionth U.S. patent. Marron was educated at

University of Rochester The University of Rochester (U of R, UR, or U of Rochester) is a private research university in Rochester, New York. The university grants undergraduate and graduate degrees, including doctoral and professional degrees. The University of Roc ...

Institute of Optics The Institute of Optics is a department and research center at the University of Rochester in Rochester, New York. The institute grants degrees at the bachelor's, master's and doctoral levels through the University of Rochester School of Enginee ...

. He received his undergraduate degree in 1981 and his PhD in 1986. While working at the

Environmental Research Institute of Michigan The Environmental Research Institute of Michigan (ERIM) was a research institute at Ann Arbor, Michigan, founded in 1972. The institute contributed to the development of remote sensing, radar, and holography. ERIM grew out of a military and envir ...

(ERIM) he was issued his first patent in 1991. While at ERIM Marron was part of NASA's Hubble Aberration Recovery Project (HARP) team that "fixed" the

Hubble Space Telescope The Hubble Space Telescope (often referred to as HST or Hubble) is a space telescope that was launched into low Earth orbit in 1990 and remains in operation. It was not the first space telescope, but it is one of the largest and most versa ...

through the installation of the

Corrective Optics Space Telescope Axial Replacement The Corrective Optics Space Telescope Axial Replacement (COSTAR) is an optical correction instrument designed and built by NASA. It was created to correct the spherical aberration of the Hubble Space Telescopes primary mirror, which incorrectly ...

(COSTAR) instrument. His was one of the groups that calculated the error in the mirror from the faulty images using phase retrieval, allowing the corrective optics to be designed. in 1993, still at ERIM, Marron developed a method for holographic laser radar imaging. In 2004, while at Corning, he was elected a Fellow of the Optical Society of America for "contributions to the science of coherent imaging and the invention of holographic laser radar." Marron also worked for

Lockheed Martin The Lockheed Martin Corporation is an American aerospace, arms, defense, information security, and technology corporation with worldwide interests. It was formed by the merger of Lockheed Corporation with Martin Marietta in March 1995. It ...

and later became a principle research fellow at Raytheon Space and Airborne Systems. On June 19, 2018, Marron was granted patent number 10,000,000 titled "Coherent LADAR Using Intra-Pixel Quadrature Detection" It is for a system to improve laser detection and ranging (LADAR). The patent was also the first to receive the USPTO's redesigned patent cover, specifically unveiled in conjunction with the milestone event. President

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pe ...

signed the patent during a special ceremony at the White House. Marron was joined at the event by Secretary of Commerce,

Wilbur Ross Wilbur Louis Ross Jr. (born November 28, 1937) is an American businessman who served as the 39th United States Secretary of Commerce from 2017 to 2021. A member of the Republican Party, Ross was previously chairman and chief executive officer ...

, USPTO Director

Andrei Iancu Andrei Iancu (born April 2, 1968) is an American-Romanian engineer and intellectual property attorney, who served as the under secretary of commerce for intellectual property and director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) ...

, and Raytheon CEO Thomas Kennedy. The patent has been assigned to Raytheon.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Marron, Joseph 20th-century American engineers Living people University of Rochester alumni 21st-century American engineers 1959 births Optical engineers Fellows of Optica (society) Raytheon Company people Lockheed Martin people