Prize for Industrial Applications of Physics Rangaswamy Srinivasan
2003/2004
UVTech Associates
(formerly at IBM Research)
"For discoveries, inventions, and promotion of ablative photodecomposition
for medical and materials applications"
Rangaswamy Srinivasan ("Sri" or "Srini" to his associates)
has spent his entire research career on the study of the action of ultraviolet
light on organic matter. For a period of 30 years (1961 – 1990), he directed
a group at the IBM T. J. Watson Research Center in Yorktown Heights, NY to investigate
such interactions. When ultraviolet lasers became commercially available in
the 1980s, he used the pulsed excimer laser at 193 nm for this purpose. His
group found in 1980 – 83 that at this wavelength, there is a new phenomenon
that leads to the etching or drilling of organic solids such as polymers (plastics)
or tissue without any thermal damage to the surrounding substrate. He named
this phenomenon, Ablative Photodecomposition (APD). He and his group have published
130 scientific articles and obtained 22 patents on APD. Twenty years later,
APD has become the method of choice to drill polymers such as polyimide which
are used in the packaging of chips and in the nozzles of ink-jet printers.
Srinivasan personally worked with surgeons
to introduce APD in surgical interventions. One of the remarkable applications
that has become accepted world-wide is the use of the 193 nm laser to
reshape the cornea, a process known as LASIK (Laser in situ keratomileusis).
Millions of people have benefited from this surgery to date. Since APD
is applicable to the cutting or etching any soft tissue, other applications
are also being developed such as surgery at a single cell level. Incidentally,
if you are wondering why Srinivasan still wears glasses, LASIK will
not work on people older than sixty – the cornea thins with age
!
Srinivasan was born in India in 1929
and came to the U.S. in 1953 as a graduate student. He obtained his
Ph. D. at the University of S. California and did post-doctoral work
at the California Institute of Technology (1956) and at the University
of Rochester (1957-61).
Many societies have honored Srinivasan
for the discovery of APD. These include the American Chemical Society
(Creative Invention Medal – 1997), ACS North East Section (Esselen
Medal – 1997), American Physical Society (Biological Physics Prize
– 1998), Inventors Hall of Fame (2002) and the U.S. Patent Office
(Innovation in Technology – 2002). He was elected to the National
Academy of Engineering in 1999.
Since 1990, Srinivasan has been operating
a consulting company called UVTech Associates.
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