Prof. Eli YablonovitchThe US physicist who first discovered "photonic crystals" which can repel, trap and steer light is to receive the Newton Medal. This is the highest honour given by the Institute of Physics in London. He is on the editorial board of the journal Photonics and Nanostructures - Fundamentals and Applications
Prof Eli Yablonovitch of the University of California, Berkeley, proposed and created the crystals in the 1980s. They are now used in data processing and in wave guides for laser surgery; they have also been discovered in bird feathers and the skin of chameleons.
His seminal description of photonic crystals was published in 1987 when these materials had never been manufactured, and were not known by that name!
The Publishing Team of Elsevier Physics congratulates Dr. Yablonovitch to this great distinction!