Optics pioneer Guoguang Mu passes away at 81

Guoguang Mu, who helped to pioneer optics, applied optics, and optical instrumentation, passed away on April 12 at the age of 81.

Mu made distinguished contributions to white-light information processing, and designed many novel optical instruments. He also introduced important concepts and technologies in pattern recognition, color image coding and decoding, and color photography. He published more than 100 scientific research papers on internationally renowned optical journals and owned two patents. He received three national scientific and technological prizes and the Ho Leung Ho Lee Prize for exceptional Chinese scientists.

Mu was born in Jinxi (now Hu Lu Dao City), Liao Ning Province, in 1931. He graduated from the Physics Department of Nankai University in 1952. From 1986 to 1995, he was president of Nankai University. From 1993 to 2005, he was the president of the Chinese Optical Society (COS). In 1991, he was elected a member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). In 1994, he was elected as a fellow of the Academy of Sciences for the Developing World. He was a fellow of SPIE, OSA, and also served as vice president of the International Commission for Optics.

Mu's influence on Chinese optical teaching and research included the book Optics that he and Yuan Lin Zhan wrote and compiled in 1964. It was the first classical fundamental book for optical physics, and has been a commonly used textbook for undergraduate students with a pervasive influence on Chinese optical teaching. When he was the president of COS, he actively promoted the academic exchanges between them and many international optical societies, including SPIE.

SPIE executive director Eugene Arthurs expressed the condolences of Society membership. "Professor Mu was a highly respected international figure in optics, both for his research and leadership accomplishments," he says. "He also made valuable contributions to the global optics community with SPIE and ICO."

-----

Follow us on Twitter and 'like' us on Facebook

Follow OptoIQ on your iPhone; download the free app here.