Howard J. Carmichael is the Dan Walls Chair of Theoretical Physics at the University of Auckland. He worked for many years in the United States, first at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, and then at the University of Oregon, Eugene, where he was Associate Professor then Professor from 1989 to 2002.

His research specialty is quantum optics and the theory of open quantum systems. He is the originator of Quantum Trajectory Theory. In 2015, he was recognized as an Outstanding Referee by the American Physical Society. Carmichael is a Fellow of the Society and recipient of the 2003 Max Born Award.