David D. Nolte

David D. Nolte, the Edward M. Purcell Distinguished Professor of Physics and Astronomy at Purdue University, is an internationally recognized researcher in holography and interferometry. He received his baccalaureate from Cornell University and his PhD from the University of California at Berkeley. He is the author of over 200 journal papers, has written 14 book chapters or encyclopedia articles, has secured 24 US patents in interferometric optics and biophotonics, and is a technical founder of two start-up companies based on biological applications of interferometric detectors.

David has been elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, a Fellow of the American Physical Society and a Fellow of the Optica Society. He was an Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellow and a Presidential Young Investigator of the National Science Foundation. In 2005 he received the Herbert Newby McCoy Award from Purdue University. He has been interviewed on public radio and TV, as well as by science magazines, on the topics of his scientific research.

His general-interest science book, "Interference: The History of Optical Interferometry and the Scientists who Tamed Light" (Oxford, 2023), tells the stories behind the science of light, while his earlier book, "Mind at Light Speed: A New Kind of Intelligence" (Simon & Schuster: Free Press, 2001), gives a popular account of the fiber optic telecommunication revolution. His book, "Galileo Unbound: A Path Across Life, the Universe and Everything" (Oxford, 2018), is a gentle introduction to the history of dynamics and complex systems.