Larry R. Marshall is an Australian CEO, author and innovator who invented and commercialized the "eyesafe laser" enabling lasers to be used safely around humans, and the semiconductor green laser which cures blindness in diabetics. He founded 6 tech companies in the USA, delivered two IPOs and is the longest serving CEO of the

CSIRO The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) is an Australian Government agency that is responsible for scientific research and its commercial and industrial applications. CSIRO works with leading organisations arou ...

, departing June 2023. He currently Chairs American Chamber of Commerce, and Fortescue Innovation.

Education

Born in Sydney Australia, he graduated from

Macquarie University Macquarie University ( ) is a Public university, public research university in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Founded in 1964 by the New South Wales Government, it was the third university to be established in the Sydney metropolitan area. ...

in 1988 with a

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

physics Physics is the scientific study of matter, its Elementary particle, fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge whi ...

, doing research with J. A. Piper on

Nonlinear Optics Nonlinear optics (NLO) is the branch of optics that describes the behaviour of light in Nonlinearity, nonlinear media, that is, media in which the polarization density P responds non-linearly to the electric field E of the light. The non-linearity ...

Lasers A laser is a device that emits light through a process of optical amplification based on the stimulated emission of electromagnetic radiation. The word ''laser'' originated as an acronym for light amplification by stimulated emission of radi ...

Research

In the United States he researched parametric oscillators and diode laser-pumped

solid-state laser A solid-state laser is a laser that uses a active laser medium, gain medium that is a solid, rather than a liquid as in dye lasers or a gas as in gas lasers. Semiconductor-based lasers are also in the solid state, but are generally considered as ...

s. Marshall published 100 papers. He invented the "eyesafe laser" for

LIDAR Lidar (, also LIDAR, an acronym of "light detection and ranging" or "laser imaging, detection, and ranging") is a method for determining ranging, ranges by targeting an object or a surface with a laser and measuring the time for the reflected li ...

, the single-frequency solid-state blue laser for submarine imaging, the highest efficiency frequency-doubled laser, UV 289nm laser for detection of

biological weapons Biological agents, also known as biological weapons or bioweapons, are pathogens used as weapons. In addition to these living or replicating pathogens, toxins and biotoxins are also included among the bio-agents. More than 1,200 different kin ...

, the intra-intra-cavity OPO for widely tunable IR medical lasers, and the semiconductor green laser for

Ophthalmology Ophthalmology (, ) is the branch of medicine that deals with the diagnosis, treatment, and surgery of eye diseases and disorders. An ophthalmologist is a physician who undergoes subspecialty training in medical and surgical eye care. Following a ...

. Following his PhD work, Marshall lived in the United States where he spent time at Stanford University, founded 6 startups over 26 years, and registered 20 US patents which were the basis for his startups.

Career

He was Australian ''Top 10 Digital Entrepreneur'', one of ''Australia's 10 most influential people in Tech'', an inaugural STEM Champion of Change, & co-founded the following

startups A startup or start-up is a company or project undertaken by an Entrepreneurship, entrepreneur to seek, develop, and validate a scalable business model. While entrepreneurship includes all new businesses including self-employment and businesses tha ...

& VC Funds: Light Solutions (CEO) invented semiconductor green laser curing blindness in diabetics, merger with Iris Medical created Iridex

IPO An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investment ...

’d on

Nasdaq The Nasdaq Stock Market (; National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations) is an American stock exchange based in New York City. It is the most active stock trading venue in the U.S. by volume, and ranked second on the list ...

. Iriderm invented laser to treat

Telangiectasia Telangiectasias (), also known as spider veins, are small dilated blood vessels that can occur near the surface of the skin or mucous membranes, measuring between 0.5 and 1 millimeter in diameter. These dilated blood vessels can develop anywhere ...

, was acquired by Nasdaq:CUTR AOC (Chair) created

Optoelectronics Optoelectronics (or optronics) is the study and application of electronic devices and systems that find, detect and control light, usually considered a sub-field of photonics. In this context, ''light'' often includes invisible forms of radi ...

for Cable TV, now public company in China Translucent (CEO, Chair) invented Silicon laser, acquired by ASX:SLX, share price rose 10x post acquisition. Lightbit (CEO) invented optical chip enabling Telecom across USA in a single span, acquired by Corelux. Arasor (MD, co-Chair) enabled wireless HD streaming video,

’d by Marshall

Venture Capital Venture capital (VC) is a form of private equity financing provided by firms or funds to start-up company, startup, early-stage, and emerging companies, that have been deemed to have high growth potential or that have demonstrated high growth in ...

firms Main Sequence, Blackbird, The Renewable Energy Fund, Southern Cross Venture Partners. He is a Federation Fellow, a Fellow of AICD, AIP, and FTSE. He is a published author, a book "Invention to Innovation" and sits on the boards of ASX:FMG, ASX:NAN, ANU, Great Barrier Reef Foundation.

CSIRO

Marshall’s vision was for

to become an innovation catalyst to solve "Australia's Innovation Dilemma". He created $10B more value that any prior CEO, and took CSIRO 80% of the way to

Net Zero Global net-zero emissions is reached when greenhouse gas emissions and removals due to human activities are in balance. It is often called simply net zero. ''Emissions'' can refer to all greenhouse gases or only carbon dioxide (). Reaching net ze ...

. He narrowed CSIRO’s focus to solving Australia’s 6 National Challenges: Health, Environment, Food, Energy, Future Industry, & National Security. He created a National Missions program to solve these challenges. He led CSIRO’s first acquisition,

NICTA NICTA (formerly named National ICT Australia Ltd) was Australia's Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Research Centre of Excellence and is now known as CSIRO's Data61. The term "Centre of Excellence" is common marketing terminology ...

& created Australia’s largest AI group Data61; created the ON Program, a National science accelerator that outperformed the famous US iCorps accelerator; and raised the first VC Fund in Government, Main Sequence, now a $1B fund supporting scientist CEOs.

Criticism

Marshall was subject to intense political criticism throughout his leadership of CSIRO: When he was announced as CEO, he was asked about his inspiration for innovation, and cited the lengths farmers go to for water, including

dowsing Dowsing is a type of divination employed in attempts to locate ground water, buried metals or ores, gemstones, Petroleum, oil, claimed radiations (radiesthesia),As translated from one preface of the Kassel experiments, "roughly 10,000 active do ...

: "When I see that as a scientist, it makes me question, 'is there instrumentality that we could create that would enable a machine to find that water?"

Australian Skeptics Australian Skeptics is a loose confederation of like-minded organisations across Australia that began in 1980. Australian Skeptics investigate paranormal and pseudoscientific claims using science, scientific methodologies. This page covers all A ...

awarded him Bent Spoon award for "the most preposterous piece of paranormal or pseudoscientific piffle". In 2016, CSIRO deployed a water detection device as described by Marshall, and mapped underground aquifers, but the Australian Skeptics refused to withdraw their award. His narrowing of CSIRO’s focus required a 350 person reduction, including 60 climate scientists which drew intense criticism from scientists & the

Australian Labor Party The Australian Labor Party (ALP), also known as the Labor Party or simply Labor, is the major Centre-left politics, centre-left List of political parties in Australia, political party in Australia and one of two Major party, major parties in Po ...

, & Greens, including:Scientists Protest Cuts and Commercialization at Australian Climate Center
By Michelle Innis, New York Times, Feb. 27, 2016Backlash against CSIRO's 'cowboy' chief Larry Marshall; As Larry Marshall signals cuts to various programs, CSIRO staff say he is either out of his depth or has questionable motives – or both.
By Martin McKenzie-Murray, The Saturday Paper, Feb 20, 2016 3,000 signature petition from scientists across 60 countriesCSIRO chief defends climate research cuts as staff weigh up industrial action; Larry Marshall says there will be no net loss of staff over two years as international climate scientists condemn the cuts
by Michael Slezak, Guardian, 8 February 2016 7 senate hearings Editorial in

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

titled “''Australia turns its back on climate science''” 50+ articles by Peter Hannam criticizing the changes'Maybe I'm naive': CSIRO's Larry Marshall tries again to explain deep staff cuts
Peter Hannam, The Sydney Morning Herald, February 11, 2016 2016 election promise by

Labor Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

to reverse Marshall’s changes Intense Public criticism of Marshall by famous scientists John Church, Tony Haymet, Andy Pitman, and Senators

Kim Carr Kim John Carr (born 2 July 1955) is an Australian former politician who served as a Senator for Victoria between 1993 and 2022. Representing the Labor Party, he was a minister in the Rudd and Gillard governments. Carr is a graduate of the ...

, Janet Rice, Whish-Wilson said his ''position'' was "''untenable''", "''his strategy failed''", and he was "''going down in flames''". It was later shown that Marshall did not cut funding to climate science, but government cut $20M of funding before Marshall arrived. Despite the initial redundancies, Marshall grew CSIRO by 1,000 people, its first growth in 30y. In the midst of climate criticism, media reported he was being sued by angry shareholders in Arasor, which he had left 10y earlier. Marshall took Arasor public in 2006, and exceeded revenue expectations in 2006 and 2007, He left in 2007 and 5 years later in 2011 all the Directors were named in a speculative lawsuit launched by a litigation fund International Litigation Partners. In a failed claim it had been alleged that Arasor's Directors produced misleading prospectuses. The case gained notoriety when it failed to show misstatements and was rejected, but then plead market based causation which does not require either damages or specific misstatements. The case was closed in 2018 with no actions against any director, but one of the plaintiffs was subsequently sued over "inflated claims". International Litigation Partners was itself sued by the Australian Tax Office for tax evasion, and its founder Paul Lindholm charged with resisting arrest.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Marshall, Larry Living people Australian physicists Australian chief executives CSIRO CSIRO people Macquarie University alumni Venture capitalists Year of birth missing (living people)