28 September 2022

New story in Optica campaign celebrates leading female physicist

The latest Optica Community story features a strong female scientist overcoming obstacles to pursue her passion for physics.

Optica, Advancing Optics and Photonics Worldwide, has published the second story in its Optica Community series, celebrating Colombian theoretical physicist Ana Maria Rey.

“The (Atomic) Clockmaker” reveals Rey’s pursuit of her passion for physics, despite the wishes of her family, who encouraged her to choose a safer career path. "You need to find a 'real' job,’" Rey's father told her.

Optica’s Chief Scientist, P. Scott Carney, said: "The (Atomic) Clockmaker is Ana Maria Rey’s story.  Her committed pursuit of deep truths and beautiful insights in physics across borders and over obstacles has resulted in tremendous technical and scientific benefits for us all.”

Rey grew up in Bogotá, Colombia in the early 1990s as terrorism gripped the city. Conflict raged between drug cartels and the government. Rey escaped the madness by immersing herself in her schoolwork and becoming captivated by science.

“All I wanted to learn about was physics, no matter what language it came in. My teacher brought me advanced textbooks, which I read in English.”

Making connections within the optics and photonics community completely transformed her career after she moved to the University of Maryland to pursue her Ph.D.

A meeting with William Phillips, who won 1997 the Nobel Prize in physics for trapping and cooling atoms, exposed Rey to Atomic Molecular and Optical (AMO) physics. The conversation had a profound influence on her career, and she changed her focus from plasma physics to Phillips’ research area. With her teams at JILA and the U.S. National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST), Rey continued this work to develop the world’s most accurate atomic clocks.

 In February 2022, Rey was inducted into the Colombian Academy of Exact, Physical and Natural Sciences (Academia Colombiana de Ciencias Exactas, Fisicas y Naturales) in recognition of her immense contributions to AMO physics, condensed matter physics and quantum information science. 

To learn more about Ana Maria Rey’s story, read The (Atomic) Clockmaker.

Optica’s Community Values

Optica has been a respected authority on light science and technology for more than a century, with a heritage dating back to the Optical Society of America's founding in 1916. Optica’s publications, programs, events, and advocacy support the optics and photonics community as they invent the future and uncover the beautiful secrets of the universe with light. Today, Optica unites a diverse population of students, scientists, engineers and professionals working in light science and technology. The society is a champion for the field and advocates for the interests of its members around the world.

The Optica Community series is a collection of extraordinary life stories celebrating Optica's global diversity and the values its members share.

Readers can find the Optica Community series at https://www.optica.org/en-us/about/optica_community/.