Jean McPherson Bennett was born in Kensington, Maryland,
May 9, 1930. After attending Chevy Chase
High School in Bethesda,
she attended Mount
Holyoke College
where she graduated summa cum laude with a double major in chemistry and
physics. Bennett continued on to
graduate studies, and became the first woman to receive a Ph.D. in physics from
Pennsylvania State University.
After graduating, Bennett worked in atmospheric physics at Michelson
Laboratory, China Lake, California. She then worked for the Naval Weapons
Center at China
Lake, where she would spend the rest
of her career – aside from a year and a half sabbatical at the Center for
Applied Optics, University of Alabama, and a visit to Stockholm's
Institute of Optical Research. Bennett's work focused
on studying optical surface finishes and was an author of several book chapters
and books on the subject. Bennett was
also the author or co-author of over 100 articles in scientific journals, and
held several patents. A small sample of Bennett's publications includes:
- Float
Polishing of Optical Materials (1987)
- Recent
Developments in Surface Roughness Characterization (1992)
- Precise
Method for Measuring the Absolute Phase Change on Reflection (1964)
- Scattering
and Surface Finish of Unconventional Mirror Materials (1980)
Bennett was an Optical Society of America (OSA) member for
37 years. She served on its board of directors from 1978-80, and became the
first woman president of OSA in 1986. She was an editor for Applied Optics and
Optics Express, and also served on the Esther Hoffman Geller Award, David
Richardson Medal, and CEK Mees Medal committees. Bennet was named an OSA Fellow
in 1972, and was awarded the David Richardson Medal in 1990.
Bennett has also been awarded the SPIE Technology
Achievement Award (1983), the Naval Weapons Center L.T.E. Thompson Award
(1988), the Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division Lifetime Achievement
Award of Women Scientists & Engineers (1993), and many other honors. A Jean
Bennett Award was created in 1988 by the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology to
be awarded to the senior who has demonstrated excellence in optics.
Jean M. Bennett died on July 18, 2008 in Ridgecrest, California,
at the age of 78. In the words of M.J. Soileau, Vice President for Research and
Commercialization at the Unviersity of Central Florida, a former colleague of
Bennett's:
""She was such a wonderful person, dedicated to
science, and most specifically, optics," Soileau said."I have many fond
memories working with her during my time at the Navy Michelson Lab at China Lake.
Among her many interest was the works of the lab's namesake, Albert Michelson.
Like him, Jean was devoted to precision measurements using optics.""
References
http://www.ridgecrestca.com/obituaries/x1346889715/Jean-McPherson-Bennett
http://www.osa.org/News/pressroom/release/07.2008/BennettJean.aspx
http://spie.org/x26417.xml
http://oe.osa.org/journal/oe/jeanmbennett.cfm
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