By
Hillary Davis
Arizona Daily Wildcat
Nicolaas Bloembergen an unpaid prof, but enjoys work
Lasers aren't all the UA optical sciences department is known for - Nobel laureates are also becoming a recurring feature.
Nicolaas Bloembergen, a Harvard University professor emeritus, joined the faculty as an unpaid professor at the University of Arizona last month.
Bloembergen, 80, won the 1981 Nobel Prize in physics for his research in laser spectroscopy.
The optical science center's other laureate, Willis Lamb - who has been at the UA since 1983 - won the Nobel prize in 1955 for physics.
Lamb and Bloembergen have also both won the President's Medal of Science, the nation's highest scientific honor.
"He works very well with both students and faculty," said James Wyant, director of the UA Optical Sciences Center. "(He's) just a very good guy to talk to, any problem you have."
Bloembergen, a native of the Netherlands, came to Harvard after World War II. He earned his doctorate from the University of Leiden in his home country in 1948, and last year was awarded an honorary doctor of science degree by Harvard, where he had spent about half a century as a faculty member. He also holds honorary doctorates from seven other universities.
Bloembergen said he and his wife, frequent visitors to Tucson, decided recently that they liked it enough to stay.
Bloembergen, a retiree, said he has a comfortable enough pension from Harvard, and enjoys studying optics so much, he doesn't mind not getting a paycheck for his UA work.
Wyant called Bloembergen a "pioneer" in his field of study, non-linear optics, and said he has quickly settled into the department.
"He's very interested in what he's doing, and he has a lot of people here to work with and he enjoys it," he said.
Bloembergen agreed, saying he likes to talk about science - especially lasers - with colleagues and students, and does not know just how long he will do so.
"As long as I live - anybody's guess," he said. "I have a good time. You have to keep active, in body and mind."
