It is with great sadness that we learn of the death of our well-loved and respected colleague, Dr Jonathan Price, who sadly passed away on 9 December 2020 after a serious fall whilst at home.
Jon was a Senior Research Fellow in the Zepler Institute/Optoelectronics Research Centre where he had spent the past 21 years undertaking laser research.
Jonathan received a B.A. (Hons.) in Physics from the University of Oxford in 1991 and on his graduation decided to pursue a career in accountancy. After several years however he resumed his studies and opted to pursue a M.Eng.Sci. in Applied and Engineering Physics from Cornell University (USA), receiving his degree in 2000 and publishing several papers on X-ray diffraction. Following a recommendation from one of his tutors, Professor Frank Wise, Jonathan applied for a Ph.D. at the University of Southampton, under the supervision of Professor David Richardson. Jonathan’s PhD was entitled “The development of high-power pulsed fibre laser systems.”
Jonathan produced some outstanding results during his PhD, providing important early demonstrations of practical femtosecond fibre lasers, along with white-light supercontinuum lasers. Much of this work was performed with a US Laser company, Positive Light, and led to two licensed patents and a commercial product, as well as a long-term collaboration with researchers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories.
Jonathan was subsequently appointed as a Research Fellow in the ORC and was promoted to Senior Research Fellow in 2006. He was awarded a 5-year Royal Academy of Engineering/EPSRC Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in May 2006 and worked on ultrafast fibre laser light sources for the far ultraviolet and mid-IR. Working with a wide range of colleagues, he has since made important contributions to combining multiple fibre lasers to achieve the massive powers required for futuristic applications in particle acceleration, space debris removal and even spacecraft propulsion for deep space exploration.
Jonathan established links with the Institute for Life Sciences to identify and pursue applications of fibre lasers for medical imaging. Working with Professor Sumeet Mahajan, he identified a number of important opportunities and undertook various proof-of-principle experiments. This led to a £5.5M interdisciplinary research project funded by EPSRC entitled “Lighting the Way to a Healthy Nation – Optical X-rays for Walk Through Diagnosis & Therapy,” involving the Universities of Edinburgh and Nottingham. Jonathan was wholeheartedly committed to this project at the time of his death and he will be a great loss to the team.
Jonathan was a kind and gentle person who cared and thought deeply about his work. It was not an uncommon event in team meetings for a discussion to have moved on, only for Jonathan to chip in 15 minutes or so later with an insightful comment once he had digested the topic fully. One of his external collaborators, Professor John Dudley eloquently commented on learning of his passing, “You couldn’t put anything vague past him without getting some kind of polite yet firm quizzical look and question.” Many of his colleagues and students over the years will recognise well this description!
Jonathan was a kind person who enjoyed helping others and never expected or wanted anything in return. He was polite and dignified and went about his business in a quiet and unassuming fashion. When Jonathan applied for a PhD at Southampton, one of his former Oxford tutors described him as “an all-round good egg,” much to the amusement of the interview panel. It is hard to imagine a more succinct and apt description.
