Peter Walden Milonni (born 5 May 1947) is an American

theoretical physicist Theoretical physics is a branch of physics that employs mathematical models and abstractions of physical objects and systems to rationalize, explain, and predict natural phenomena. This is in contrast to experimental physics, which uses experi ...

who deals with

quantum optics Quantum optics is a branch of atomic, molecular, and optical physics and quantum chemistry that studies the behavior of photons (individual quanta of light). It includes the study of the particle-like properties of photons and their interaction ...

laser physics Laser science or laser physics is a branch of optics that describes the theory and practice of lasers. Laser science is principally concerned with quantum electronics, laser construction, optical cavity design, the physics of producing a po ...

quantum electrodynamics In particle physics, quantum electrodynamics (QED) is the Theory of relativity, relativistic quantum field theory of electrodynamics. In essence, it describes how light and matter interact and is the first theory where full agreement between quant ...

and the

Casimir effect In quantum field theory, the Casimir effect (or Casimir force) is a physical force (physics), force acting on the macroscopic boundaries of a confined space which arises from the quantum fluctuations of a field (physics), field. The term Casim ...

. Milonni earned his PhD in 1974 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 ...

. He then worked at the

Air Force Weapons Laboratory The Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) is a scientific research and development detachment of the United States Air Force Materiel Command dedicated to leading the discovery, development, and integration of direct-energy based aerospace warf ...

from 1974 to 1977, then working at

PerkinElmer PerkinElmer, Inc., previously styled Perkin-Elmer, is an American global corporation that was founded in 1937 and originally focused on precision optics. Over the years it went into and out of several different businesses via acquisitions and di ...

from 1977 to 1980. In 1980 he became professor of physics at the

University of Arkansas The University of Arkansas (U of A, UArk, or UA) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Fayetteville, Arkansas, United States. It is the Flagship campus, flagship campus of the University of Arkan ...

; From 1986 to 1994 he was at the

Los Alamos National Laboratory Los Alamos National Laboratory (often shortened as Los Alamos and LANL) is one of the sixteen research and development Laboratory, laboratories of the United States Department of Energy National Laboratories, United States Department of Energy ...

, where he became a fellow of the laboratory from 1994 onwards. He then had a research professorship at the

. He is in on editorial boards of ''

Progress in Optics Progress is movement towards a perceived refined, improved, or otherwise desired state. It is central to the philosophy of progressivism, which interprets progress as the set of advancements in technology, science, and social organization effic ...

'', ''

Contemporary Physics ''Contemporary Physics'' is a peer-reviewed scientific journal publishing introductory articles on important recent developments in physics. Editorial screening and peer review is carried out by members of the editorial board. Overview ''Contempo ...

'', ''Advances in Optics & Photonics'' and ''

Physical Review Letters ''Physical Review Letters'' (''PRL''), established in 1958, is a peer-reviewed, scientific journal that is published 52 times per year by the American Physical Society. The journal is considered one of the most prestigious in the field of physics ...

''. Milonni is also author of several textbooks and monographs including '' The Quantum Vacuum: An Introduction to Quantum Electrodynamics.'' In 2008 he received the

Max Born Award The Max Born Award is given by Optica (formerly the Optical Society of America) for ''outstanding contributions to physical optics'' and is named after Max Born, a physicist renowned for his foundational contributions to quantum mechanics and opt ...

"For exceptional contributions to the fields of theoretical optics, laser physics and quantum mechanics, and for dissemination of scientific knowledge through authorship of a series of outstanding books".

Selected publications

Popular Science

Academic papers

Books

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References

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External links