Jim Wynne

Introduction

I serve on the staff of Research Headquarters, where I identify IBMers who are viable candidates for external honors and create or edit nominations for these candidates. I also pursue a research program in bioengineering, exploring novel applications of lasers to medicine and surgery.

Brief Biography

Before joining IBM Research in 1969, I earned a Ph. D. in Applied Physics at Harvard University. After spending 1 1/2 years at the IBM Zurich Research Laboratory, I moved to the Watson Research Center, where I have spent my entire career. Most of my years as a researcher were spent in the areas of nonlinear optics, laser spectroscopy of atomic and molecular species, cluster science, and applications of lasers to medicine and surgery. My current assignment to the staff of Research Headquarters commenced in Sept. 1997. Appointed Program Manager of Local Education Outreach in 1990, I served as a leader, originator, communicator, catalyst, matchmaker, organizer, and facilitor, opening up pathways of communication between the employees of our laboratory and the local educational community.

**Laser Surgery
**

In 1981, Samuel Blum, Rangaswamy Srinivasan and I were all members of the Laser Physics and Chemistry group (which I managed) at the Watson Research Center, when we discovered that excimer laser light could etch biological tissue, with no apparent damage to the tissue underlying the etched volume. This discovery yielded an invention disclosure that was completed on New Year's Eve in 1981. In 1983, we collaborated with an ophthalmologist who brought ennuceated calf eyes to the Watson Research Center, where we used the excimer laser to create ultraclean, precise incisions. This experiment laid the foundation for the modern laser refractive surgical techniques known as LASIK and PRK.

For our discovery and work in this area, we have received many external awards, including the 2002 Induction into the National Inventors Hall of Fame, the 2004 Wood Prize of the Optical Society of America, the 2010 Rank Prize for Opto-electronics, the 2011 National Medal of Technology and Innovation, and the 2013 Russ Prize of the National Academy of Engineering. In 2015 I was elected a Member of the National Academy of Engineering. I am the American Physical Society 2015 Distinguished Lectureship Award on the Applications of Physics Recipient.

I continue research to validate my concept that the excimer laser can serve as a 'smart scalpel' to remove necrotic lesions of the skin without creating collateral damage to the underlying and adjacent viable tissue. My collaboration with Richard Clark, Stony Brook University, commenced in 2014, has yielded a refereed paper, 'ArF excimer laser debrides burns without destruction of viable tissue: A pilot study,' published in the May, 2018, issue of BURNS. This research study is continuing with financial support from the US Army.

Electron micrograph of human hair photoetched by light from an excimer laser

 

Photograph of human skin, in vitro, photoetched by light from an excimer laser

Local Education Outreach

Appointed Program Manager of Local Education Outreach in 1990, I established pathways of communication between IBM and local schools and kept traffic flowing in both directions along these pathways. Our Family Science Saturdays program for elementary school students and their parents commenced in 1993 and has been offered every year since.