Philip Russell (physicist) facts for kids

Philip St. John Russell was born on March 25, 1953, in Belfast. He is a very important scientist from Germany. He used to be the director of a big science place called the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light. This institute is in Erlangen, Germany.

Dr. Russell studies "photonics" and new materials. Photonics is about how light works and how we can use it. He especially looks at special types of glass called photonic crystal fibres. These are tiny, structured materials that help control light.

Philip Russell's Journey in Science

Early Studies and Research

Philip Russell went to the University of Oxford. In 1979, he earned his DPhil there. A DPhil is like a very advanced university degree, similar to a PhD. He studied something called volume holography. This is a way to make 3D images using light.

From 1978, he was a Junior Research Fellow at Oriel College, Oxford. This means he was a young researcher at one of Oxford's colleges.

Working with Light and Fibres

In 1982, Dr. Russell moved to Germany. He worked at the Technische Universität Hamburg-Harburg. He was an Alexander von Humboldt Fellow, which is a special award for talented researchers.

In 1986, he joined a group that studied fibre optics at the University of Southampton. Fibre optics is about sending information using light through very thin glass fibres. Here, he started working on his big idea: photonic crystal fibres.

Inventing Photonic Crystal Fibres

Dr. Russell first thought of photonic crystal fibres in 1991. These are special optical fibres with tiny holes running along their length. These holes help to guide light in new ways. The first working versions were shown in 1996.

From 1996 to 2005, he worked at the University of Bath. There, he built and led a group focused on photonics and new materials.

Leading a Max Planck Institute

Later, he joined a research group at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg. This group became the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light (MPL) in 2009. Dr. Russell was one of the founding directors of this important institute.

He was the director until 2021. Now, he is an Emeritus Director, which means he is still connected to the institute but is no longer in charge day-to-day.

Starting a Company

Dr. Russell also started a company called BlazePhotonics Limited. The company's goal was to use photonic crystal fibres in real products. This company even set a world record for a special type of hollow photonic crystal fibre. Another company bought BlazePhotonics in 2004.

Awards and Recognitions

Philip Russell has received many awards for his amazing work.

He is a Fellow of the Optical Society of America. This means he is a highly respected member of this group of light scientists. He also helped start a series of meetings about special light technologies.

In 2000, he won the Joseph Fraunhofer Award/Robert M. Burley Prize. He received this award for inventing photonic crystal fibre.

In 2002, he won a prize from the UK Institute of Physics. In 2004, he won the Thomas Young Medal and Prize from the same institute. Thomas Young was a famous scientist who studied light.

In 2005, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society. This is a very high honour for scientists in the UK. In September 2005, he received the Körber European Science Prize.

He was also a special lecturer for the IEEE/LEOS group from 2005 to 2006. From 2007 to 2009, he was a Director-At-Large for the Optical Society of America.

In 2014, he won the Berthold Leibinger Zukunftspreis. In 2015, he received the IEEE Photonics Award from the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. Also in 2015, he was the President of the Optical Society of America. That year was also the International Year of Light, which was very fitting!

He received a special award from the Royal Society and the Wolfson Research Merit Award. In 2018, he won the Rank Prize in Optoelectronics.