James J. Wynne (born March 19, 1943, in

Brooklyn 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 ...

) is an American physicist at the

IBM Watson Research Center The Thomas J. Watson Research Center is the headquarters for IBM Research. Its main laboratory is in Yorktown Heights, New York, 38 miles (61 km) north of New York City. It also operates facilities in Cambridge, Massachusetts and Albany, N ...

in Yorktown Heights, NY. Wynne pioneered the use of excimer lasers for medical applications, most notably

LASIK LASIK or Lasik (; "laser-assisted in situ keratomileusis"), commonly referred to as laser eye surgery or laser vision correction, is a type of refractive surgery for the correction of myopia, hyperopia, and astigmatism. LASIK surgery is p ...

. He received the

National Medal of Technology and Innovation The National Medal of Technology and Innovation (formerly the National Medal of Technology) is an honor granted by the president of the United States to American inventors and innovators who have made significant contributions to the development ...

on February 2, 2013, from U.S. President Obama, together with Rangaswamy Srinivasan and (posthumously) Samuel Blum for their contributions to laser eye surgery. Wynne studied at

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

, receiving a bachelor's degree in 1964, master's degree in 1965 and doctorate in 1969 in applied physics. He then joined

IBM Research IBM Research is the research and development division for IBM, an American Multinational corporation, multinational information technology company. IBM Research is headquartered at the Thomas J. Watson Research Center in Yorktown Heights, New York ...

, first at IBM Zurich Research Laboratory and then at the

Thomas J. Watson Research Center The Thomas J. Watson Research Center is the headquarters for IBM Research. Its main laboratory is in Yorktown Heights, New York, 38 miles (61 km) north of New York City. It also operates facilities in Cambridge, Massachusetts and Albany, ...

. His research has been in nonlinear optics of semiconductors and insulators, nonlinear spectroscopy of atomic and molecular vapors physics of

Clusters may refer to: Science and technology Astronomy * Cluster (spacecraft), constellation of four European Space Agency spacecraft * Cluster II (spacecraft), a European Space Agency mission to study the magnetosphere * Asteroid cluster, a small ...

, using the laser to etch and in medicine (e.g., fluorescence studies of tissue). In 1981, with Rangaswamy Srinivasan and

Samuel E. Blum Samuel E. Blum (August 28, 1920 – January 9, 2013) was an American chemist and physicist. He was a researcher at the Battelle Memorial Institute in Columbus, Ohio, working for government and private companies. He worked with semiconductor mate ...

at IBM, he pioneered the use of

excimer laser An excimer laser, sometimes more correctly called an exciplex laser, is a form of ultraviolet laser which is commonly used in the production of microelectronic devices, semiconductor based integrated circuits or "chips", eye surgery, and micro ...

s in surgery. Based on an early experiment in which an excimer laser was able to make clean cuts in dead cartilage from a Thanksgiving turkey, without thermal damage, they recognized the potential for surgery. Srinivasan later developed on this basis, with Bodil Braren and Stephen Trokel, applications to eye surgery in the form of

photorefractive keratectomy Photorefractive keratectomy (PRK) and laser-assisted sub-epithelial keratectomy (or laser epithelial keratomileusis) (LASEK) are laser eye surgery procedures intended to correct a person's vision, reducing dependency on glasses or contact lenses. ...

(PRK) and

. Wynne himself worked on applications in

dermatology Dermatology is the branch of medicine dealing with the Human skin, skin.''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary.'' Random House, Inc. 2001. Page 537. . It is a speciality with both medical and surgical aspects. A List of dermatologists, ...

with doctors at New York University Medical School (1985). Wynne was Manager for nonlinear spectroscopy, laser physics and chemistry and biology and molecular physics at the IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center. He was a visiting scholar at the University of Chicago, the University of Rochester, the Dartmouth College and Johns Hopkins University. He is now responsible for education outreach at the IBM Thomas J. Watson Center. He also conducts research on the development of ″smart scalpels″ with excimer lasers for the removal of necrotic skin from burn injuries.ArF excimer laser debrides burns without destruction of viable tissue: A pilot study https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29456098/ Wynne received the R. W. Wood Prize 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 ...

(OSA) in 2004, the in 2010, the

for 2011, the

Russ Prize The Fritz J. and Dolores H. Russ Prize is an American national and international award established by the United States National Academy of Engineering (NAE) in October 1999 in Athens. Named after Fritz Russ, the founder of Systems Research Labor ...

of the

National Academy of Engineering The National Academy of Engineering (NAE) is an American Nonprofit organization, nonprofit, NGO, non-governmental organization. It is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM), along with the National Academ ...

in 2013, and the

American Physical Society The American Physical Society (APS) is a not-for-profit membership organization of professionals in physics and related disciplines, comprising nearly fifty divisions, sections, and other units. Its mission is the advancement and diffusion of ...

(APS) Distinguished Lectureship Award on the Applications of Physics in 2015. He is a Fellow of the APS and the OSA. He was inducted into the

National Inventors Hall of Fame The National Inventors Hall of Fame (NIHF) is an American not-for-profit organization, founded in 1973, which recognizes individual engineers and inventors who hold a US patent of significant technology. Besides the Hall of Fame, it also operate ...

in 2002. He was co-founder of the Forum of Education of APS and was a member of the Committees for Education of both the APS and the OSA. In 2015 he was elected to the

. 1982–1983, he was co-editor of an issue of the Journal of the Optical Society of America.

References

External links

Jim Wynne's homepage at IBM
1 Feb 2013. * ttps://www.nae.edu/Projects/Awards/RussPrize/RussWinners/67346/67364.aspx Wynne's biographyat the National Academy of Engineering. {{DEFAULTSORT:Wynne, James J. 1943 births Living people 21st-century American physicists Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences alumni Fellows of the American Physical Society