Dedication
Marlan Scully has enriched the field of quantum physics, and in particular our meetings. With this in mind, it is with great pleasure to dedicate the FQMT’19 conference to him.
A true pioneer in laser physics, Marlan O. Scully (Texas A&M, Baylor, and Princeton), among his many accomplishments, developed the first quantum theory of the laser with Willis Lamb, validated lasing without inversion, demonstrated ultraslow light in hot gases, and used quantum coherence to detect anthrax in real time. His work in quantum coherence and correlation effects shed new light on the very foundations of quantum mechanics, in particular his most remarkable "quantum eraser".
He has been elected to the National Academy of Sciences, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Academia Europaea, and Max Planck Society. He has won numerous awards including the APS Schawlow prize, OSA Townes Award, IEEE Quantum Electronics Award, Franklin Institute’s Elliott Cresson Medal, OSA Lomb Medal, and Humboldt Senior Faculty Prize. More recently, he was named Harvard Loeb Lecturer, received an honorary doctorate from Universität Ulm, and was awarded the OSA/DPG Hebert Walther Award. Most recently, he has been awarded the OSA Frederic Ives Medal / Quinn Prize, the highest award of the Society, and was named C.N. Yang Visiting Professor in Hong Kong.
Marlan Scully has participated in the FQMT conferences from the very beginning and has delivered a number of invited talks. What deserves to be especially mentioned are his FQMT public lectures in 2008 and 2015. On the occasion of his second public lecture Marlan was awarded a medal by the Senate of the Parliament of the Czech Republic for his exceptional achievements in physics.