Harry Paul

Harry Paul (born 11 February 1931) is a German theoretical physicist at the Humboldt University of Berlin, where he is emeritus professor of physics. His research areas include laser physics, nonlinear optics, and quantum optics.

Education and career Paul was born to a Sudeten German family in Czechoslovakia. In the summer of 1945, he and his family resettled in Germany. Beginning in 1949, he studied physics at the University of Rostock and the University of Jena. After earning his diploma in 1955, he joined the Institute for Theoretical Physics at the University of Jena as an assistant. He received his doctorate in 1958 and subsequently worked as a research scientist at the Academy of Sciences of the GDR. Since 1962, he worked under Gustav Richter at the Central Institute for Optics and Spectroscopy (Zentralinstitut für Optik und Spektroskopie) in Berlin, which later became the Ferdinand-Braun-Institut. In 1964, Paul completed his habilitation at the Humboldt University of Berlin. Until 1969, he worked at the Institute for Special Problems of Theoretical Physics, Academy of Sciences of the GDR. In 1978, Paul was appointed as a professor at the Humboldt University of Berlin.

Honors and awards In 1980, together with Witlof Brunner, he was awarded the National Prize of the GDR (Third Class) for Science and Technology for their contributions to quantum electronics. In 1999, he was elected a full member of the Natural Sciences Class of the Sudeten German Academy of Sciences and Arts.

Books