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Among his many industry accolades, Robert was named Fellow of the International Society for Optics and Photonics, SPIE, in 2021. This prestigious honor is a distinction recognizing individuals for their technical accomplishments and for their service to the general optics community. Robert is a graduate of Georgetown University's McDonough School of Business and is an exceptional Horseman.

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Robert M. Edmund, CEO and Chairman of the Board of Directors for Edmund Optics, is well known for his expertise in business strategy, optical manufacturing and product development, as well as global catalog marketing. He has over 50 years of professional contributions in the field of optics and photonics.

In appreciation for Robert’s arduous commitment to help advance the field of optics, the Robert M. Edmund Endowed Chair in Optical Sciences was established by his long-time friend and Edmund Optics board member, Dr. John P. Schaefer, and the Fredrick Gardner Cottrell Foundation.

We respectfully acknowledge the University of Arizona is on the land and territories of Indigenous peoples. Today, Arizona is home to 22 federally recognized tribes, with Tucson being home to the O’odham and the Yaqui. Committed to diversity and inclusion, the University strives to build sustainable relationships with sovereign Native Nations and Indigenous communities through education offerings, partnerships, and community service.

Also at Wyant College, Robert established an undergraduate student scholarship, named for his father, and a graduate student scholarship bearing his own name to help further the academic and research interests of future generations of optical engineers.

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Among his commitments to the optics industry and education, Robert dedicated the company’s Edmund Scientific Division to outreach, teaching thousands of young students throughout the U.S. about optics each year. In addition, he has lobbied on Capitol Hill in support of optics for more than 30 years. He is also very involved with the University of Arizona, serving on advisory boards and is the founding chairman of the Wyant College of Optical Sciences Advisory Board.

In 1942, Robert’s father, Norman Edmund, founded a mail-order company, Edmund Scientific, providing consumers with optical devices. Within a decade, Norman's small optical surplus company became famous as the go-to source for telescopes, microscopes, science toys and gadgets of every description. In 1976, Robert assumed the leadership role and has since overseen the growth and re-positioning of the company, now called Edmund Optics, to its current emphasis. Today, Edmund Optics is regarded as a leading producer of optics, coatings, imaging systems and photonics supporting the worldwide technical community.

diffraction, the spreading of waves around obstacles. Diffraction takes place with sound; with electromagnetic radiation, such as light, X-rays, and gamma rays; and with very small moving particles such as atoms, neutrons, and electrons, which show wavelike properties. One consequence of diffraction is that sharp shadows are not produced. The phenomenon is the result of interference (i.e., when waves are superimposed, they may reinforce or cancel each other out) and is most pronounced when the wavelength of the radiation is comparable to the linear dimensions of the obstacle. When sound of various wavelengths or frequencies is emitted from a loudspeaker, the loudspeaker itself acts as an obstacle and casts a shadow to its rear so that only the longer bass notes are diffracted there. When a beam of light falls on the edge of an object, it will not continue in a straight line but will be slightly bent by the contact, causing a blur at the edge of the shadow of the object; the amount of bending will be proportional to the wavelength. When a stream of fast particles impinges on the atoms of a crystal, their paths are bent into a regular pattern, which can be recorded by directing the diffracted beam onto a photographic film.