Ralph Jacobs, LLNL laser scientist, dies at age 65

Dec. 19, 2008
December 19, 2008--Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL; Livermore, CA) laser scientist and Laser Focus World (Nashua, NH) Editorial Advisory Board member Ralph Jacobs died in his sleep on August 29 at age 65, only one week after retiring from LLNL.

December 19, 2008--Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL; Livermore, CA) laser scientist and Laser Focus World (Nashua, NH) Editorial Advisory Board member Ralph Jacobs died in his sleep on August 29 at age 65, only one week after retiring from LLNL.

Jacobs' career at LLNL began in 1972 after three years on the technical staff at GTE Laboratories. As a senior physicist and project manager at LLNL, he worked to develop laser sources for fusion and laser isotope separation programs. Bill Krupke, former deputy associate director for LLNL's Laser Program, recalled that he and Jacobs enjoyed a 36-year run of professional association and personal friendship dating from the founding of the Laser Program in 1972. "I fondly remember working with Ralph on solid state and excimer laser research topics in the earliest days of the Laser Program, during which the technical foundations for the Lab's world-acknowledged prowess in lasers was established. Ralph was an energetic and enthusiastic researcher, and it was simply fun to collaborate with him. He will be sorely missed by his many friends at the Lab and in the laser community at large," Krupke added.

In 1980, Jacobs left LLNL for a ten-year period to work in the private sector at Spectra-Physics (San Jose, CA), where he was involved in the development of advanced solid-state lasers.

Jacobs returned to LLNL in 1990 and served as the director of the Laser Program's New Technology Initiatives effort and later as the director of its Intellectual Property Office. Most recently, Jacobs worked for two years as the chief technologist for LLNL's Industrial Partnerships Office (IPO), spearheading the initiative to forge relationships with business schools in the greater Bay Area. Jacobs was, as usual, eager to share the IPO Business Plan Development Program with the larger laser community, and wrote a Letter to the Editor for Laser Focus World earlier this year regarding the Program details and progress (see www.laserfocusworld.com/articles/332934). We will miss his experience and vocal input to our editorial content.

For more information, go to https://newsline.llnl.gov/_rev02/memoriam/2008/sep/09.05.08-memoriam.php.

--Posted by Gail Overton

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