Arnold Schmidt, Professor Emeritus at TU Wien and founder of the Photonics Institute, passed away on July 5, 2024 after a long illness.
"Arnold Schmidt was a wonderful friend and mentor, who influenced my path like noone
else”, says Ferenc Krausz. “The experiments that we were able to perform in the laboratories of the Photonik Institut of the TU Wien, which he founded and where he provided us guidance and ideal conditions for our research, opened the door for gaining direct insight into sub-atomic
motions and led to the emergence of the new field of attosecond physics."
Arnold Schmidt was born in Vienna on August 7th 1938 and began studying physics at the University of Vienna in 1956, where he received his doctorate in 1962 with a thesis on solid state physics. After spending two years at the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Solid State Physics in Vienna, he spent some time at the University of York (UK). From 1971 to 1975, he continued his career in California at the University of California, Berkeley. There he came across a new, then very young field of research - laser spectroscopy.
He recognized the great potential that arose with the development of lasers in the investigation of solids and also in the fundamental investigation of the non-linear interaction of light and matter. Schmidt returned to Austria with these ideas in 1975 - to the Institute of Physical Electronics at Vienna University of Technology. Here he founded a new quantum electronics group, which was extremely successful and dealt with the latest laser developments and their applications in spectroscopy. He became a university professor in 1986 and headed the Institute for General Electrical Engineering and Electronics at the Faculty of ETIT from 1989 to 1993. During his time at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology, he founded the Photonics Institute, where he served as director until 2001. At TU Wien, Arnold Schmidt succeeded in inspiring a large number of young researchers for photonics and science.
Arnold Schmidt also played a key role in the creation of The Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA) in Klosterneuburg on the outskirts of Vienna. Opened in 2009. The Institute focuses on basic research in the natural sciences, mathematics, and computer science.
The attoworld team, together with the TU Wien and the ultrafast laser community mourn the loss of an outstanding scientist and mentor.
Portrait picture of Arnold Schmidt: ISTA
The group picture shows the congratulators to the 80th birthday of Arnold Schmidt on September 21th, 2018. From left to right: Paul Corkum, Andrius Baltuska, Irina Sorokina, Tony Heinz, Arnold Schmidt, Karl Unterrainer, Ferenc Krausz Evgeni Sorokin, Theodor Hänsch, Laurenz Niel, Ron Shen and Georg Reider.
Group picture: Georg Reider, TU Wien
