fred h. pollak († 19 june 2008)

Phys. Status Solidi A 206, No. 5, 771 (2009) / DOI 10.1002/pssa.200881416

© 2009 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim

Obituary

Obituary

Fred H. Pollak († 19 June 2008)

Fred Hugo Pollak was born in Vienna, Austria and

educated in the United States. After receiving his

Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Chicago in

1965, Fred became Associate Professor of Physics at

Brown University (1966–1972) and then Professor of

Physics and Director of the Maxwell Maybaum Insti-

tute of Material Science and Quantum Electronics at

the Belfar Graduate School of Science at Yeshiva

University (1972–1978). He joined the Department of

Physics at Brooklyn College in 1978 and was ap-

pointed as a CUNY Distinguished Professor in 1988.

Complementing his roles in the Physics Department

of Brooklyn College and the Ph.D. Program in Phys-

ics at the Graduate Center of the CUNY, Professor

Pollak also served as Deputy Director of the New

York State Center for Advanced Technology in Ul-

trafast Photonic Materials and Applications at the

CUNY and Associate Director and Head of the Mate-

rials Group, New York State Center for Advanced

Technology in Telecommunication at Polytechnic

University. Fred also participated in the Committee

of Concerned Scientists and has been director and fel-

low of the Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation

Engineers and fellow of the American Physical Soci-

ety and a member of the Electrochemical Society.

During his academic career, Professor Pollak was

also president of Semiconductor Characterization In-

struments, a company which was involved in the de-

sign and manufacturing of quality control instruments

for the semiconductor industry.

Professor Pollak was one of the founders of the

technique of modulation spectroscopy and a pioneer

in the use of modulation spectroscopy to study semi-

conductor structures such as superlattices, quantum

wells and heterojunctions. He was also among the

first to apply Raman spectroscopy techniques in

studying the effects of uniaxial stress on phonon fre-

quencies, providing new insight into the nature of an-

harmonic forces in semiconducting materials and sys-

tems. He was a tireless pioneer in the application of

spectroscopic techniques to characterize semiconduc-

tor systems, a highly valued collaborator in research,

an inspiring teacher/mentor to numerous students,

and a great friend to many.

Martin Muñoz, University of South Florida, Tampa,

FL, USA

Ying-Sheng Huang, National Taiwan University of

Science and Technology, Taipei, Taiwan