Watt W. Webb
Encyclopedia
Watt W. Webb is known for his co-invention (with Winfried Denk
and Jim Strickler) of Multiphoton microscopy in 1990.
Corporation Research Laboratories until 1952, then back to MIT for his ScD in Metallurgy awarded in 1955, then returning to Union Carbide for solid-state and chemical physics and as coordinator of fundamental research and then assistant director of research until he joined the Cornell University
faculty of Engineering Physics in 1961, introducing experimental research in superconductivity
and in continuous phase transitions. He served as director of the School of Applied and Engineering Physics from 1983 to 1989 and is presently a member of the graduate faculties of eight fields, which indicates his interdisciplinary research focus. He has directed the NIH Developmental Resource for Biophysical Imaging Opto-Electronics for the last 20 years. He is on the board of directors and executive committee of the Cornell Center for Technology, Enterprise, and Commercialization, is affiliated with the university's Biophysics Program, the Cornell Center for Materials Research, the Nanobiotechnology Center and serves on the Executive Committee of the Neuroscience Focus Area. He has been a visiting scholar at Stanford University
, a Guggenheim fellow, and a scholar in residence at the NIH Fogarty International Center for Advanced Study. He is a fellow of the American Physical Society
(APS) and the American Association for the Advancement of Science, a founding fellow of the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineers, and an elected member of the National Academy of Engineering, the National Academy of Science, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He won the APS Biological Physics Prize
in 1990, the Ernst Abbe Lecture Award of the Royal Microscopical Society (UK) and Carl Zeiss (Germany) in 1997, the Michelson-Morley Award in 1999, the Rank Prize for Opto-electronics in 2000, the Jablonski Award Lecturer in 2001, was the National Lecturer of the Biophysical Society in 2002, the MIT Lord Lecturer in 2004, the Rohm and Haas Lecturer in 2005, and the Leonardo Lecturer for the Universita Vita-Salute San Raffaele in Milano, Italy in 2006 and has been selected for the Ernst Abbe award of the New York Microscopy Society in 2007. He has served as chairman of the Division of Biological Physics of APS and associate editor of Physical Review Letters. He has published over 310 papers in solid state and chemical physics and in biological physics; with 22 U.S. patents plus many foreign patents. He is active as a consultant and in various national advisory committees and professional societies.
by the National Academy of Sciences
.
Winfried Denk
Winfried Denk is a German physicist and neurobiologist, director of the Max-Plack-Institute for Medical Research in Heidelberg. He is noted for being the first to implement two-photon microscopy while a postdoctoral fellow in Watt W. Webb's lab in 1990...
and Jim Strickler) of Multiphoton microscopy in 1990.
Biography
Professor Watt W. Webb’s undergraduate studies at MIT in Business and Engineering Administration for his SB degree in 1947 led him to engineering research and development at Union CarbideUnion Carbide
Union Carbide Corporation is a wholly owned subsidiary of The Dow Chemical Company. It currently employs more than 2,400 people. Union Carbide primarily produces chemicals and polymers that undergo one or more further conversions by customers before reaching consumers. Some are high-volume...
Corporation Research Laboratories until 1952, then back to MIT for his ScD in Metallurgy awarded in 1955, then returning to Union Carbide for solid-state and chemical physics and as coordinator of fundamental research and then assistant director of research until he joined the Cornell University
Cornell University
Cornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...
faculty of Engineering Physics in 1961, introducing experimental research in superconductivity
Superconductivity
Superconductivity is a phenomenon of exactly zero electrical resistance occurring in certain materials below a characteristic temperature. It was discovered by Heike Kamerlingh Onnes on April 8, 1911 in Leiden. Like ferromagnetism and atomic spectral lines, superconductivity is a quantum...
and in continuous phase transitions. He served as director of the School of Applied and Engineering Physics from 1983 to 1989 and is presently a member of the graduate faculties of eight fields, which indicates his interdisciplinary research focus. He has directed the NIH Developmental Resource for Biophysical Imaging Opto-Electronics for the last 20 years. He is on the board of directors and executive committee of the Cornell Center for Technology, Enterprise, and Commercialization, is affiliated with the university's Biophysics Program, the Cornell Center for Materials Research, the Nanobiotechnology Center and serves on the Executive Committee of the Neuroscience Focus Area. He has been a visiting scholar at Stanford University
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
, a Guggenheim fellow, and a scholar in residence at the NIH Fogarty International Center for Advanced Study. He is a fellow of the American Physical Society
American Physical Society
The American Physical Society is the world's second largest organization of physicists, behind the Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft. The Society publishes more than a dozen scientific journals, including the world renowned Physical Review and Physical Review Letters, and organizes more than 20...
(APS) and the American Association for the Advancement of Science, a founding fellow of the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineers, and an elected member of the National Academy of Engineering, the National Academy of Science, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He won the APS Biological Physics Prize
Max Delbruck Prize
The Max Delbruck Prize, formerly known as the Biological physics prize, is awarded by the Division of Biological Physics of the American Physical Society, to recognize and encourage outstanding achievement in biological physics research. The prize was established in 1981, and renamed for Max...
in 1990, the Ernst Abbe Lecture Award of the Royal Microscopical Society (UK) and Carl Zeiss (Germany) in 1997, the Michelson-Morley Award in 1999, the Rank Prize for Opto-electronics in 2000, the Jablonski Award Lecturer in 2001, was the National Lecturer of the Biophysical Society in 2002, the MIT Lord Lecturer in 2004, the Rohm and Haas Lecturer in 2005, and the Leonardo Lecturer for the Universita Vita-Salute San Raffaele in Milano, Italy in 2006 and has been selected for the Ernst Abbe award of the New York Microscopy Society in 2007. He has served as chairman of the Division of Biological Physics of APS and associate editor of Physical Review Letters. He has published over 310 papers in solid state and chemical physics and in biological physics; with 22 U.S. patents plus many foreign patents. He is active as a consultant and in various national advisory committees and professional societies.
FCS and MPM
Professor Webb pioneered the techniques of Fluorescence Correlation Spectroscopy (FCS) in 1972 and Multiphoton microscopy (MPM) in 1990. FCS enables single-molecule detection in solutions at nanomolar concentrations and provides temporal resolution of the dynamic processes of individual molecules signaled by their fluorescence. FCS reveals molecular mobility, conformational fluctuations and chemical reactions in solutions and allows the detection of extremely sparse molecules and particles. In situ measurements of the dynamics of fluorescence flicker by FCS, photobleaching, phototoxicity, and induced fluorescence are being used to discern dynamics of biological processes and molecular mechanisms of disease. Multiphoton excitation in laser scanning fluorescence microscopy provides for high resolution, high signal-to-noise imaging in living cells and deep in turbid tissues in vivo and significantly reduces photodamage and minimizes image degradation due to scattering and autofluorescence. His laboratory at Cornell University continues to extend the frontiers of these technologies, now for example extending MPM and FCS to imaging molecular processes within the cellular nucleus for gene expression in vivo. Recently initiated is the development of technology for introduction of MPM into Medical Endoscopy for in vivo, in situ real time diagnostics.Honors
In 2010 Webbb was awarded the Alexander Hollaender Award in BiophysicsAlexander Hollaender Award in Biophysics
The Alexander Hollaender Award in Biophysics is awarded by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences "for outstanding contributions in biophysics." Named in honor of Alexander Hollaender, it has been awarded every three years since 1998....
by the National Academy of Sciences
United States National Academy of Sciences
The National Academy of Sciences is a corporation in the United States whose members serve pro bono as "advisers to the nation on science, engineering, and medicine." As a national academy, new members of the organization are elected annually by current members, based on their distinguished and...
.