2009 Rosenblatt Recipient

Zeev Valentine Vardeny

B.S., Ph.D., Distinguished Professor of Physics

Zeev Valentine Vardeny, one of the world’s foremost experimental physicists, develops materials, specifically organicmaterials, for use in electronic devices such as transistors and diodes, and optical devices like lasers, photovoltaic cells, and LEDs or light-emitting diodes. Such materials ultimately may serve as the basis for new kinds of computers, televisions, batteries, light bulbs and other products. His current work is developing “plastic” or polymer lasers that could be molded into desired shapes for new display devices and fiber-optic telecommunications.

Dr. Vardeny has served as chair of the University of Utah’s Department of Physics, as director of the University of Utah’s John Dixon Laser Institute, as chairman of the International Conference on “Optical Probes of Conjugated Polymers” and sat on the International Advisory Committee of the 23rd Conference on the Physics of Semiconductors in Berlin.

A prolific author, he has added more than 400 papers to the most prestigious publications in the world including Physical Review Letters, perhaps the most prominent journal in physics, in which his writings have appeared 50 times. For eight years he served as regional editor of the Physical Review, a respected American science journal.

Colleagues of Olson’s note that the culture of collaboration and excellence he creates is the envy of many departments. His selection as president of the Association of University Professors of Ophthalmology is a testament to Olson’s influence and prominence in the field of ophthalmology.

Olson is the author of more than 300 professional publications and a worldwide lecturer. He specializes in research dealing with cataract surgery complications and infectious ophthalmic diseases.

Past Recipients

2008 Recipient
Robert A. Goldberg
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2007 Recipient
Mary C. Beckerle
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