Wilson Sibbett (born 1948) is a British physicist noted for his work on

ultrashort pulse laser An ultrashort pulse laser is a laser that emits ultrashort pulses of light, generally of the order of femtoseconds to one picosecond. They are also known as ultrafast lasers owing to the speed at which pulses "turn on" and "off"—not to be confus ...

s and

Streak camera A streak camera is an instrument for measuring the variation in a pulse of light's intensity with time. They are used to measure the pulse duration of some ultrafast laser systems and for applications such as time-resolved spectroscopy and LID ...

s. He is the Wardlaw Professor of Physics at

St Andrews University (Aien aristeuein) , motto_lang = grc , mottoeng = Ever to ExcelorEver to be the Best , established = , type = Public research university Ancient university , endowment ...

Early life and education

He was born in

Portglenone Portglenone (from ga, Port Chluain Eoghain , meaning 'landing place of Eoghan's meadow') is a village and civil parish in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It lies 8.5 miles (14 km) west of Ballymena. It had a population of 1,174 people in ...

County Antrim County Antrim (named after the town of Antrim, ) is one of six counties of Northern Ireland and one of the thirty-two counties of Ireland. Adjoined to the north-east shore of Lough Neagh, the county covers an area of and has a population o ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

, in March 1948. He studied Physics at

Queen's University, Belfast , mottoeng = For so much, what shall we give back? , top_free_label = , top_free = , top_free_label1 = , top_free1 = , top_free_label2 = , top_free2 = , established = , closed = , type = Public research university , parent = ...

, and graduated BSc in 1970, then studying at postgraduate level, gaining a PhD in Laser Physics in 1973. He began lecturing at

Imperial College London Imperial College London (legally Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom. Its history began with Prince Albert, consort of Queen Victoria, who developed his vision for a cu ...

in 1973, rising to Reader before moving to

St Andrews University (Aien aristeuein) , motto_lang = grc , mottoeng = Ever to ExcelorEver to be the Best , established = , type = Public research university Ancient university , endowment ...

as full Professor in 1985. From 1988 he was Head of Physics and Astronomy at the University.

Works

He worked with Miles Padgett and Alan James Duncan to create optical instruments to measure the

Orbital angular momentum of light The orbital angular momentum of light (OAM) is the component of angular momentum of a light beam that is dependent on the field spatial distribution, and not on the polarization. It can be further split into an internal and an external OAM. The in ...

.Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh: obituaries 1999, Alan James Duncan He was made a Fellow of the

Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

in 1997, and awarded the Rumford Medal in 2000. The Royal Society of Edinburgh elected him their first Chief Advisor on Science. He was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 2001. In 1989 he was made a Fellow of

The Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was established i ...

. He was Vice-President for Physical Sciences from 2010 - 2013.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sibbett, Wilson Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Fellows of the Royal Society Living people Physicists from Northern Ireland Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Academics of the University of St Andrews 1948 births