Bernard Roy Frieden (born September 10, 1936) is an American

mathematical physicist Mathematical physics is the development of mathematical methods for application to problems in physics. The ''Journal of Mathematical Physics'' defines the field as "the application of mathematics to problems in physics and the development of ...

. He is an

emeritus professor ''Emeritus/Emerita'' () is an honorary title granted to someone who retires from a position of distinction, most commonly an academic faculty position, but is allowed to continue using the previous title, as in "professor emeritus". In some c ...

of optical sciences at the

University of Arizona The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it ...

Education and career

Frieden grew up in

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

, where his father was part-owner of the Empire Mirror Works until the collapse of the business in 1948. After a bachelor's degree in physics from

Brooklyn College Brooklyn College is a public university in Brooklyn in New York City, United States. It is part of the City University of New York system and enrolls nearly 14,000 students on a campus in the Midwood and Flatbush sections of Brooklyn as of fall ...

, he received a master's degree at the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...

in 1959. He worked for

General Electric General Electric Company (GE) was an American Multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in 1892, incorporated in the New York (state), state of New York and headquartered in Boston. Over the year ...

and then in

Rochester, New York Rochester is a city in and the county seat, seat of government of Monroe County, New York, United States. It is the List of municipalities in New York, fourth-most populous city and 10th most-populated municipality in New York, with a populati ...

for

Bausch & Lomb Bausch & Lomb (since 2010 stylized as Bausch + Lomb) is an American-Canadian eye health products company based in Vaughan, Ontario, Canada. It is one of the world's largest suppliers of contact lenses, lens care products, pharmaceuticals, intra ...

, but found himself jobless in 1962, when the project he worked for was disbanded. He returned to graduate study in

The Institute of Optics The Institute of Optics is a department and research center at the University of Rochester in Rochester, New York. The institute grants degrees at the bachelor's, master's and doctoral levels through the University of Rochester School of Engine ...

at the

University of Rochester The University of Rochester is a private university, private research university in Rochester, New York, United States. It was founded in 1850 and moved into its current campus, next to the Genesee River in 1930. With approximately 30,000 full ...

, and completed his Ph.D. in 1966. His doctoral thesis advisor was Robert E. Hopkins. He joined the

faculty as an assistant professor in 1966, and remained there for the rest of his career, retiring as a

professor emeritus ''Emeritus/Emerita'' () is an honorary title granted to someone who retirement, retires from a position of distinction, most commonly an academic faculty position, but is allowed to continue using the previous title, as in "professor emeritus". ...

in 2002.

Research and recognition

Frieden is known for his pioneering work on laser beam shaping and was among the first to investigate the

optical transfer function The optical transfer function (OTF) of an optical system such as a camera, microscope, human eye, or image projector, projector is a scale-dependent description of their imaging contrast. Its magnitude is the image contrast of the Sine and cosine ...

of a three-dimensional object. He was the first to apply

Jaynes Jaynes is a surname, and may refer to * Cindy Jaynes (born 1959), American rear-admiral * Dwight Jaynes, American sports journalist * Edwin Thompson Jaynes (1922–1998), American physicist and theorist of probability * Jeremy Jaynes (born 1974) ...

maximum entropy principle The principle of maximum entropy states that the probability distribution which best represents the current state of knowledge about a system is the one with largest entropy, in the context of precisely stated prior data (such as a proposition ...

to image restoration. He was elected a Fellow of the

Optical Society of America Optica, founded as the Optical Society of America (later the Optical Society), is a professional society of individuals and companies with an interest in optics and photonics. It publishes journals, organizes conferences and exhibitions, and ca ...

, now known as Optica, in 1975; in 1988, he was elected a Fellow of

SPIE SPIE (formerly the Society of Photographic Instrumentation Engineers, later the Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers) is an international not-for-profit professional society for optics and photonics technology, founded in 1955. It ...

Selected publications

* * * * 2nd ed., 1991. 3rd ed., 2001.Reviews of ''Probability, Statistical Optics, and Data Testing'': * * * * *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Frieden, B. Roy 1936 births Living people 20th-century American mathematicians 21st-century American mathematicians 21st-century American physicists University of Rochester alumni University of Arizona faculty