Michael Stephen Feld Biography

Michael Stephen Feld 1940-2010 Assistant Professor of Physics 1968-1973 Associate Professor of Physics 1973-1979 Professor of Physics 1979-2010 Director, G. R. Harrison Spectroscopy Laboratory 1976-2010 Director, MIT Laser Research Center 1979-2010 Director, Laser Biomedical Research Center 1985-2010

Michael S. Feld was educated at MIT, and stayed to eventually become a Professor of Physics head MIT's George R. Harrison Spectroscopy Laboratory. Professor Feld was active in various aspects of laser biomedicine, physics and spectroscopy. His optical physics research spanned molecular and atomic spectroscopy, laser-nuclear interactions and the study of dynamical and radiative processes. In 1973 he made the first experimental observation of superradiance, the collective spontaneous emission of an assembly of excited atoms. In 1987 he began a series of experiments to study the radiation of a single, isolated atom in an optical resonator, which led to the first demonstration of enhanced and suppressed spontaneous emission and radiative level shifts in an open optical resonator and, in 1994, to the development of the single atom laser. His later research was directed to studies of laser biomedicine. He founded the Laser Biomedical Research Center at MIT, where he directed research on the use of fluorescence and Raman spectroscopy to diagnose biological tissues and image disease via endoscopy and optical tomography.

Professor Feld received the Thompson Award in 1991 for the development of biomedical Raman spectroscopy, and the Vinci of Excellence (France) in 1995 for development of the single atom laser. In 1992, he was the Wolk Visitor and Lecturer at Colgate University. He was 1996 Distinguished Baetjer Colloquium speaker at Princeton University. He is a Research Member of the Joint Faculty of the Harvard-MIT Division of Health, Science and Technology, and an Adjunct Staff Member in the Department of Cardiovascular Research of the Cleveland Clinic Foundation.

For more information:
Department of Physics Facilty Profile of Michael S. Feld
MIT News Office Obituary of Michael S. Feld