Gould, the laser pioneer who established a professorship to honor the physics professor who sparked his interest in the physics of light, died Sept. 16 at 85.
Gould, who coined the ubiquitous term “laser” (for “light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation”), fought a three-decade battle to secure patent rights for the invention he began in 1957 as a graduate student at Columbia University.
After a weekend of filling his notebook with ideas to amplify light, he went to an attorney and came away believing-erroneously-that he needed a working model before he could get a patent. He did not submit a patent application until April, 1959-after two others had filed an application.
Finally, in 1987, the patent office awarded Gould a patent on optically pumped laser amplifiers. “If I had any idea when I started how long it would take to win, I would have quit a long time ago,” he once said. “But throughout the whole fight it always seemed like the light at the end of the tunnel was just around the corner.”
Gould, who as a child idolized Thomas A. Edison and always wanted to be an inventor, was a physics major and member of Sigma Chi fraternity at Union. He did graduate research in optics at Yale, where he taught physics to premed students, and was a doctoral student and research assistant at Columbia. He worked on the Manhattan Project from 1943 to 1945.
Acknowledged as the pioneer of the laser, he was elected to the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 1991. Union recognized his achievements by awarding him an honorary Doctor of Science degree in 1978 and the Eliphalet Nott Medal in 1995.
In 1995, he established the R. Gordon Gould Professorship of Physics, held by Jay E. Newman, to honor Frank Studer, Gould's former Union professor of physics.
Survivors include his wife, Marilyn Appel and several nieces and nephews.
John Ostrom, a distinguished paleontologist recently hailed by Discover magazine for one of the greatest discoveries of the last quarter century-that birds evolved from dinosaurs-died of complications from Alzheimer's disease in Litchfield, Conn., on July 16.
Ostrom was professor emeritus of geology and geophysics at Yale University and curator emeritus of vertebrate paleontology at Yale's Peabody Museum of Natural History.
“The discovery nearly a decade ago of feathers and hairlike plumes on the little Chinese dinosaurs that clearly weren't birds and couldn't fly was just another detailed confirmation of John's work,” says Kevin Padian in Discover's survey.
Ostrom also is noted for discovering Deinonychus, a two-legged dinosaur, in Montana, and for his theory, published in 1969, that it may have been warm-blooded. This contradicted an earlier belief that dinosaur species were cold-blooded.
Born in 1928 in New York City and raised in Schenectady, Ostrom first became interested in paleontology at Union, where he began as a pre-med student. He earned his B.S. in geology and biology. In 1999, he was the honored speaker at Founder's Day and received an honorary doctor of science degree from Union.
He held a Ph.D. in vertebrate paleontology from Columbia University.
Ostrom was married to the late Nancy Ostrom. Survivors include two daughters and three grandchildren.
Mike Yulman, a long-time trustee, died Aug. 28 at the age of 91.
Yulman and his wife, Helen, were longtime benefactors of the College, perhaps most visibly in the theater that bears their name. The Morton H. and Helen Yulman Theater was dedicated as part of the College's Bicentennial celebration in 1995-the first facility at the College dedicated solely to theater and performing arts.
“The building-host to hundreds of performances, rehearsals and classes-has done nothing but transform our theater program into one of recognized excellence,” Underwood said.
Among the many gifts to the College from Yulman and his family, the Morton H. Yulman Annual Scholarship, established by his children Richard and Nedra, has provided support to Capital Region students for more than a decade.
The retired president and chairman of Sealy Mattress Company, Yulman earned his bachelor's degree in chemistry from Union in 1936. He served many years as a trustee and trustee emeritus. He received the Alumni Council's Gold Medal for distinguished service in 1980, and one of the College's highest honors-the Founders Medal-in 1988.
He also served on a number of national and local boards, was a charter member of the Saratoga Performing Arts Center, and sponsored the “I Have a Dream” college scholarship program in his native Albany.