Dr. H. John Caulfield passed away on January 31, 2012 at Middle Tennessee Medical Center in Murfreesboro following a brief and intense battle with cancer. He was a native of Halletsville, TX and the son of the late Henry John and Mary Pendergrass Caulfield II. He was a creative physicist, known around the World for his ability to solve problems. He worked in many fields, including holography, optical signal processing, optical pattern recognition, computer design, artificial intelligence, color perception and evolutionary psychology. He loved to think and learn, and did science for the joy of it. He won many international awards , including SPIE’S Gold Medal and Dennis Gabor Award. He published 13 books, 40 book chapters, and 255 papers in refereed journals. He was featured in many popular news stand publications, including “ Byte Magazine”, “Business Week”, and the “Wall Street Journal”. He also wrote the cover article about holography for National Geographic in 1984. He founded the Center for Applied Optics at UAH. He was Chief Scientist, Alabama A&M University Research Institute and Distinguished Research Professor at Fisk University. He lived with his wife Jane and younger daughter at Far Out Farm in Delina, TN.
Dr. Caulifield is deeply missed by his wife Jane, and daughters Cindy Osborne and Kim Caulfield. There will be a memorial gathering at 1:00 PM on Saturday February 18th in the First Baptist Church of Cornersville in Cornersville, TN. There will be a memorial scholarship fund set up through SPIE. For details email KimCaulfield@mac.com
Higgins Funeral Home is assisting the family of Dr. H. John Caulfield.
Those who had the pleasure of working with HJC could observe the Special Theory of Creativity in action:
E m = c2 ; Enthusiasm x master-mind = creativity x creativity.
He will be missed by many.
Those who had the pleasure of working with HJC could observe the Special Theory of Creativity in action: E m = c2 ; Enthusiasm x master-mind = creativity x creativity.
He will be missed by many.
We were working under his supervision from 1993-1997 in the Physics Department, AAMU,and after he left Alabama A&M , we continued to collaborate with him
He has developed his skills to the point where he is truly a great inventor of new optical concepts. His ability to spot tacit assumptions in fields and remove or change them has been demonstrated many times. And, because he is always learning from his colleagues, his interests and contributions continued to grow.
He is also a wonderful technical popularizer and superb speaker. His National Geographic story that introduced tens of millions of people to holography is but the most well known of perhaps a dozen stories in popular magazines and trade journals.
His service to OSA was also distinguished. He has been on the editorial board of Applied Optics and Optics Letters. His latest special issues are jointly with JOSA A and Applied Optics. But there were several others as well. And, of course, he has given invited talks in many OSA conferences .
Professor Caulfield has worked hard to prevent the field of optics from degenerating into no communicating sub groups. As much as any other way, he has tried to meet and appreciate all of the movers and shakers of optics and drag them into conversations that ought to be of interest to optics broadly. He works for fun and income but not for awards and prizes. Holographers who are old enough will remember the man who set the opposite course for his career. John was a very nice person who is widely respected and liked.
John will be remembered as an outstanding scientist, person, and visionary of the world class. The significance of his contribution will even grow in time. He has left behind a cohort of thankfull and faithfull disciples, students, colleagues, and friends around the world who will carry on bringing benefits of optics and technology to humanity.