Brits honor OSU prof

Alaina Zanin

July 17, 2008 12:33 pm

— Girish Agarwal, physics professor at Oklahoma State University, was recently elected to the Fellowship of the Royal Society for outstanding work in his field.
The election to the fellowship is regarded as one of the highest honors in the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth.
To receive a nomination for election to the society, scientists go through a rigorous process, including nomination by scientists within the fellowship, a submittal of 20 important research papers, a subcommittee review and recommendation, and the majority vote of the current 1,500 members of the fellowship.
Agarwal has been an international leader in the field of physics for more than 25 years. His work with quantum optics has lead to breakthroughs in the optical sciences to allow for better precision measurement. His work could produce more precise results in many areas of science.
“We are using the fundamental principles of physics in experiments to test how entangled photon pairs behave,” Agarwal said. “Currently, it is of great importance to understand how these entanglements work because it could lead to a better understanding of precision measurement.”
Agarwal is originally from India, but has been a professor at OSU for four years.
In addition to his election into the fellowship, Agarwal also won Germany’s Humboldt Research Award, the Max Born prize of the Optical Society of America and the Third World Academy of Sciences in Physics. In 2006, he was named an OSU Regents Professor.
He said he is very honored and happy to receive the award and he wants to continue with learning and teaching others about the field of physics.
“My goal continues to be to do excellent scientific experiments, and teach others,” Agarwal said.
“I don’t expect to get honors and awards. If they come you feel happy, but if they don’t come you don’t cry. I also enjoy what I do.
“I like interacting with students — my door is always open to anyone who wants to discuss anything to do with physics.”