marlan o scully distinguished professor of physics and astronomy at texas a&m university has been selected as a 2015 fellow of the national academy of inventors (nai) scully is one of two texas a&m faculty-researchers recognized among the nais 168 fellow honorees for 2015 announced today (tuesday dec 15) he joins christopher a floudas professor of chemical engineering and holder of the erle nye 59 chair for engineering excellence in the artie mcferrin department of chemical engineering within the dwight look college of engineering and director of the texas a&m energy institute as the universitys most recently recognized academic inventors who have demonstrated a prolific spirit of innovation in creating or facilitating outstanding inventions that have made a tangible impact on quality of life economic development and the welfare of society dr marlan o scully a world-renowned pioneer in quantum optics and laser physics dr scully has brought distinction to texas a&m and his disciplines by leading the way to many scientific breakthroughs such as slowing the speed of light to the snail-like pace of 10 miles per hour making revolutionary lasers without population inversion and showing how quantum mechanics can yield a class of novel quantum heat engines scully and floudas will be inducted on april 15 2016 during the academys fifth annual conference at the united states patent and trademark office in alexandria va where each will be presented with a special trophy medal and rosette pin all 2015 nai fellows also will be recognized with a full page announcement in the chronicle of higher educations jan 22 2016 issue and in upcoming issues of inventors digest and the nai journal technology and innovation scully a world-renowned pioneer of quantum optics and laser physics is director of the institute for quantum science and engineering and the center for theoretical physics he holds the hershel e burgess 29 chair in physics in the department of physics and astronomy as well as a texas a&m engineering experiment station (tees) distinguished research chair he also serves as associate dean for external relations in the college of science and holds a joint professorial appointment in the department of chemistry as well as at princeton university scullys primary career contributions to both science and engineering include the first quantum theory of the laser the first demonstrations of lasing without inversion the first demonstration of ultraslow light in hot gases and the use of quantum coherence to detect anthrax in real time furthermore his work on quantum coherence and correlation effects has shed new light on the foundations of quantum mechanics he is a member of the national academy of sciences academia europaea and the max planck society as well as a fellow of the american academy of arts and sciences the optical society and the american physical society marlan scully has that rare ability to apply a deep understanding of fundamentals of physics to important applied problems translating his insights not just to experiments but to inventions and patents said george r welch professor and head of texas a&m physics and astronomy were deeply honored that he has been selected as an nai fellow todays announcement brings the total of nai fellows to 582 representing more than 190 research universities and governmental and non-profit research institutions the 2015 fellows account for more than 5 300 issued us patents bringing the patents held by all nai fellows to more than 20 000