Miles Padgett facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Miles Padgett
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Padgett in 2014
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Miles John Padgett
1 June 1963 |
| Nationality | British |
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| Thesis | Techniques for ultra-high resolution saturation spectroscopy and laser stabilisation in the 10 μm spectral region (1988) |
| Doctoral students | Jacqueline Romero |
Miles John Padgett was born on June 1, 1963. He is a very important professor of Optics (the study of light) at the University of Glasgow in Scotland. He holds a special position called the Kelvin Chair of Natural Philosophy. From 2014 to 2020, he also helped lead research at the university.
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Miles Padgett's Education
Miles Padgett went to several universities to study. He attended the University of Manchester, the University of York, and the University of St Andrews. He also studied at Trinity College, Cambridge. In 1988, he earned his PhD, which is a very high university degree.
Miles Padgett's Research and Career
Miles Padgett is known for his amazing work with light. He worked with another scientist, Les Allen, on something called optical angular momentum. This is a special way light can twist and carry energy. For this important work, they won the Young Medal in 2009.
How Light Can Be Used
Professor Padgett's team studies how light's angular momentum works. They are famous for inventing "optical tweezers" and "optical spanners." These are like tiny, invisible tools made of light. They can grab and spin very small objects, like cells or tiny particles.
His team also found ways to use light's twisting motion to send more information. This helps make communication systems better, both with regular light and with quantum light. They even showed a special form of the EPR paradox, which is a strange idea from quantum physics.
Where His Discoveries Are Published
Miles Padgett's research has been published in many top science magazines. These include Science, Nature, and Physical Review Letters. His work has also appeared in Optics Express and Progress in Optics. The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) has helped fund his research.
Awards and Honours for Miles Padgett
Miles Padgett has received many awards for his scientific work. In 2001, he became a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE). He was also made a Fellow of the Optical Society in 2011. In 2012, he became a Fellow of the Society of Photographic Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE).
In 2014, he was chosen as a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS). This is a huge honour, as it's the UK's top science academy. The Royal Society said he was a leader in optics and optical momentum. They noted his work on optical spanners and using light's twist for communication.
In 2009, he and Les Allen won the Institute of Physics (IOP) Young Medal. In 2014, he received the Lord Kelvin Medal from the Royal Society of Edinburgh. He also won the Science of Light Prize from the European Physical Society in 2015. In 2017, he got the Max Born Award, and in 2019, the Rumford Medal. He is also a Fellow of the Institute of Physics (FInstP).
In 2020, Miles Padgett was given the title of Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE). This was for his great work in science and for sharing science with others.
Miles Padgett's Personal Life
As of 2021, Professor Padgett lives in Glasgow. He lives there with his wife, Heather Reid, and their daughter, Jenna.
