Dennis Gabor 172883 225621598 2008-07-14T16:28:56Z Demophon 1837101 /* Biography */ {{ otherpersons|Gabor}} {{Infobox_Scientist | name = Dennis Gabor | image = Gabor-magyarposta.jpg | image_size = 168px | caption = [[1988]] Hungarian stamp honoring Dennis Gabor | birth_date = {{birth date|1900|6|5}} | birth_place = [[Budapest]], [[Hungary]] | death_date = {{death date and age|1979|2|9|1900|6|5}} | death_place = [[London]], [[England]] | residence = | nationality = | field = [[Electrical engineering]] | work_institution = [[Imperial College London]]<br>[[British Thomson-Houston]] | alma_mater = [[Technical University of Berlin]]<br>[[Technical University of Budapest]] | known_for = Invention of [[holography]] | doctoral_advisor = | awards = [[Image:Nobel prize medal.svg|20px]] [[Nobel Prize in Physics]] (1971)<br>[[IEEE Medal of Honor]] (1970) }} '''Dennis Gabor''' (original [[Hungarian language|Hungarian]] name: '''Gábor Dénes'''), [[Fellow of the Royal Society|FRS]], ([[June 5]], [[1900]], [[Budapest]] &ndash; [[February 9]], [[1979]], [[London]]) was a [[Hungarian people|Hungarian]] [[Electrical_engineering|electrical engineer]] and inventor, most notable for inventing [[holography]], for which he later received the [[Nobel Prize in Physics]]. ==Biography== Born Gábor Dénes,<ref name=KFnotes> "Fizikai Szemle 1999/5 - Zsolt Bor: OPTICS BY HUNGARIANS" (with Dennis Gabor), József Attila University, [[Szeged]], [[Hungary]], 1999, webpage: [http://www.kfki.hu/fszemle/archivum/fsz9905/bor.html KFKI-Hungary-Bor]. </ref> Dennis Gabor studied at the [[Technical University of Budapest]] and, in [[Germany]], at the Charlottenburg Technical University in [[Berlin]], now known as the [[Technical University of Berlin]].<ref name=KFnotes/> At the start of his career, he analyzed the properties of high voltage electric transmission lines by using cathode-beam oscillographs, which led to his interest in electron optics.<ref name=KFnotes/> Studying the fundamental processes of the [[oscillograph]], Gabor was led to other electron-beam devices such as [[electron microscopes]] and TV tubes. He eventually wrote his [[Doctor of Philosophy|Ph.D.]] thesis concerning the [[cathode ray tube]] in [[1927]], and worked on [[plasma lamp]]s.<ref name=KFnotes/> Having fled from [[Nazi Germany]] in [[1933]], Gabor was invited to Britain to work at the development department of the [[British Thomson-Houston]] company in [[Rugby, Warwickshire]]. During his time in Rugby, he met Marjorie Butler, and they married in [[1936]]. It was while working at British Thomson-Houston that he invented holography, in [[1947]]. Gabor's research focused on electron optics, which led him to the invention of [[holography]].<ref name=KFnotes/> The basic idea was that for perfect optical imaging, the total of all the information has to be used; not only the amplitude, as in usual optical imaging, but also the phase. In this manner a complete holo-spatial picture can be obtained.<ref name=KFnotes/> Gabor published his theories of optical imaging and holography in a series of papers between [[1946]] and [[1951]].<ref name=KFnotes/> Gabor also researched how human beings communicate and hear; the result of his investigations was the theory of [[granular synthesis]], although [[Greek people|Greek]] composer [[Iannis Xenakis]] claimed that he was actually the first inventor of this synthesis technique.<ref>Xenakis, I.: ''Formalized Music: Thought and Mathematics in Composition'' (Harmonologia Series No.6), preface xiii. Pendragon Press, 2001</ref> At the time Gabor developed [[holography]], coherent light sources were not available, so the theory had to wait more than a decade until its first practical applications were realized, though he experimented with a heavily filtered [[mercury arc]] light source.<ref name=KFnotes/> The invention in [[1960]] of the [[laser]], the first coherent light source, was followed by the first hologram, in [[1963]], after which holography became commercially available. In [[1948]] Gabor moved from Rugby to [[Imperial College London]], and in [[1958]] became professor of [[Applied Physics]] until his retirement in [[1967]]. While spending much of his retirement in [[Italy]], he remained connected with Imperial College as a Senior Research Fellow and also became Staff Scientist of [[CBS Laboratories]], in [[Stamford, Connecticut]]; there, he collaborated with his life-long friend, CBS Labs' president [[Peter Carl Goldmark|Dr. Peter C. Goldmark]] in many new schemes of communication and display. He developed an interest in social analysis and published ''[[The Mature Society: a view of the future]]'' in [[1972]]. Gabor wrote, "The best way to predict the future is to invent it."{{Fact|date=March 2007}}<!--Alan Kay is widely recognized as the author of this quote ---> Following the rapid development of lasers and a wide variety of holographic applications (e.g. art, information storage, recognition of patterns), Gabor achieved acknowledged success and worldwide attention during his lifetime.<ref name=KFnotes/> He received numerous awards besides the Nobel Prize. The [[International Society for Optical Engineering]] (SPIE) presents its ''[http://www.spie.org/AboutSPIE/index.cfm?fuseaction=Awards_Gabor Dennis Gabor award]'' annually, "in recognition of outstanding accomplishments in diffractive wavefront technologies, especially those which further the development of holography and metrology applications." The NOVOFER Foundation of the [[Hungarian Academy of Sciences]] annually presents its ''International Dennis Gabor Award'', for young scientists researching in the fields of physics and applied technology. ==Awards== *1956 - Fellow of the [[Royal Society]] *1964 - Honorary Member of the [[Hungarian Academy of Sciences]] *1964 - D.Sc., [[University of London]] *1967 - [[Young Medal and Prize]], for distinguished research in the field of [[optics]] *1967 - Colombus Award of the International Institute for Communications, [[Genoa]] *1968 - Albert Michelson Medal of The [[Franklin Institute]], [[Philadelphia]] *1968 - [[Rumford Medal]] of the Royal Society *1970 - [[Honorary Doctorate]], [[University of Southampton]] *1970 - [[IEEE Medal of Honor|Medal of Honor]] of the [[Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers]] *1970 - Commander of the [[Order of the British Empire]] (CBE) *1971 - [[Nobel Prize in Physics]], for his invention and development of the holographic method *1971 - [[Honorary Doctorate]], [[Delft University of Technology]] *1971 - Prix Holweck of the Société Française de Physique * Dennis-Gabor Strasse in [[Potsdam]] is named in his honor and is the location of the [http://www.pct-potsdam.de/ Potsdamer Centrum für Technologie]. == See also == * [[Gabor filter]] * [[Gabor atoms]] (Gabor functions) * [[Gabor Medal]] == Bibliography == ; Social analysis * ''Inventing the Future'' (Secker & Warburg, 1963) : "The future cannot be predicted, but futures can be invented. It was man's ability to invent which has made human society what it is." (Pelican Books, 1964, p. 161) * ''Innovations: Scientific, Technological, and Social'' (1970) * ''The Mature Society. A View of the Future (1972) * ''Beyond the Age of Waste: A Report to the Club of Rome'' (Pergamon international library of science, technology, engineering and social studies, paperback, 1978) == References == <references/> *{{Citation |id = [[PMID]]:379651 |url= http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/379651 |publication-date=1979 Aug 2 |year=[[1979]] |title=Dennis Gabor, 1900-1979. |volume=280 |issue=5721 |periodical=[[Nature (journal)|Nature]] |pages=431-3 }} ==External links== * [http://www.nobel-winners.com/Physics/dennis_gabor.html Short biography] * [http://nobelprize.org/physics/laureates/1971/gabor-autobio.html Gabor's Nobel Prize lecture] * [http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1971/press.html Nobel Prize presentation speech] by Professor Erik Ingelstam of the [[Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences]] * [http://www.geocities.com/neveyaakov/electro_science/gabor.html Bio with numerous pictures of Gabor] * [http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1971/gabor-autobio.html Short autobiography] {{wikiquote}} {{IEEE Medal of Honor Laureates 1951-1975}} {{Nobel Prize in Physics Laureates 1951-1975}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Gabor, Dennis}} {{Persondata |NAME=Gabor, Denis |ALTERNATIVE NAMES=Gábor Dénes (Hungarian) |SHORT DESCRIPTION=Nobel Prize-winning physicist and inventor of [[holography]] |DATE OF BIRTH=[[June 5]], [[1900]] |PLACE OF BIRTH=[[Budapest]], [[Austria-Hungary]] |DATE OF DEATH=[[February 9]], [[1979]] |PLACE OF DEATH=[[London]], [[United Kingdom]] }} [[Category:1900 births]] [[Category:1979 deaths]] [[Category:Academics of Imperial College London]] [[Category:British Jews]] [[Category:Fellows of the Royal Society]] [[Category:Futurologists]] [[Category:Hungarian inventors]] [[Category:Hungarian Jews]] [[Category:Hungarian Nobel laureates]] [[Category:Hungarian physicists]] [[Category:IEEE Medal of Honor recipients]] [[Category:Jewish inventors|Gabor]] [[Category:Jewish scientists]] [[Category:Nobel laureates in Physics]] [[Category:People from Budapest]] [[Category:Hungarian refugees]] [[ar:دنيس غابور]] [[bg:Денис Габор]] [[ca:Dennis Gabor]] [[cs:Dénes Gábor]] [[de:Dennis Gábor]] [[es:Dennis Gabor]] [[eo:Dennis Gabor]] [[fa:دنیس گابور]] [[fr:Dennis Gabor]] [[gl:Dennis Gabor]] [[io:Gabor Dennis]] [[id:Dennis Gabor]] [[it:Dennis Gabor]] [[he:דניס גאבור]] [[sw:Dennis Gabor]] [[ku:Dennis Gabor]] [[lv:Deniss Gabors]] [[lt:Dennis Gabor]] [[hu:Gábor Dénes]] [[mr:डेनिस गॅबॉर]] [[nl:Dennis Gabor]] [[ja:ガーボル・デーネシュ]] [[no:Dennis Gabor]] [[pl:Dennis Gabor]] [[pt:Dennis Gabor]] [[ro:Dennis Gabor]] [[ru:Габор, Дэннис]] [[sa:डेनिस गाबोर]] [[sk:Dennis Gabor]] [[sl:Dennis Gabor]] [[fi:Dennis Gabor]] [[sv:Dennis Gabor]] [[tr:Dennis Gabor]] [[zh:丹尼斯·伽柏]]