Hilda Gertrude Kingslake/Rudolf Kingslake

Abstract

Rudolf and Hilda Kingslake were a team for more than 70 years, and leave a very significant and distinguished legacy in the discipline of optical science and engineering through their individual and joint contributions. They died within 11 days of each other in February 2003: Hilda on the 14th—two days before her 101st birthday—of end-stage dementia, and Rudolf on the 25th of myocardial infarction. They had both been residents at the Episcopal Church Home in Rochester, New York, for a number of years.Hilda Gertrude Conrady was born in London, England, on 16 February 1902. Her father, A. E. Conrady, was professor of optical design in the newly established technical optics department of the Royal College of Science, a unit of Imperial College, London. The other two faculty members were F. J. Cheshire (director) and L. C. Martin; B. K. Johnson was also appointed to assist in the laboratory instruction. This team had a strong influence on the future careers of both Hilda and Rudolf as they pursued the science and technology of optics. Hilda was a student of her father and graduated in 1923, as part of the first graduating class, with a bachelor’s degree in optics. She continued her work in optics as a research scholar in the department and published regularly on such topics as the Foucault knife-edge test and primary spherical aberration. Her first paper, published in 1924 in the Transactions of the Optical Society, London, appeared immediately following Rudolf’s first paper. Hilda’s byline, which reflects the style of the time, was “Miss H. G. Conrady” in papers published in the Proceedings of the Optical Conferences and the Photographic Journal. Later, after her marriage to Rudolf, she would sign “Hilda Kingslake née Conrady” and, much later, “Hilda Conrady Kingslake.”Rudolf Kingslake was born Rudolf Klickmann on 28 August 1903 in London, and was the eldest of five children. His father officially changed the family name to Kingslake in 1917. Rudolf, in reminiscing, told me that the boys at his school had fun with his surname change and often called him “Queenspond” instead of “Kingslake”! Rudolf’s father recognized his son’s talents early on and wrote that Rudolf’s “reasoning powers [were] strongly developed—as applied to scientific subjects—mathematics, mechanics etc.” He penned this in the family journal (now housed in the Kingslake Archive at the University of Rochester) when Rudolf was four years old.After being educated in private schools, Rudolf attended Imperial College and was in the same program that Hilda had already enrolled in; thus he came under the tutelage of Conrady and Martin. Hilda, with a twinkle in her eye, never let Rudolf forget that he graduated the year after her and that she carried the Conrady genes. Rudolf graduated in 1924 with his bachelor’s degree in optics and earned his master’s degree in optics in 1926. In 1950, he was awarded a Doctor of Science. Following graduation in 1926, he continued for a second year as a Beit Fellow. Rudolf’s notes from that period are revealing: “2nd year of Beit Fellowship and 6th year at college—finished chr-ab [chromatic aberration] work and designed a lens with variable zonal aberration. Worked in Science Museum for a month—went to AC Works, Dallmeyers and the BBC [British Broadcasting Corporation]; Phys Soc [Physical Society] show in [January]…. offered job at Parsons in June 1927. tested Huygens lenses in June and helped with Keeler’s ophthalmoscope. Went with Hilda to zoo.”Rudolf took the job at Sir Howard Grubb, Parsons and Co in Newcastle-on-Tyne as an optical designer. In 1928, he joined the International Standard Electric Co in London. The Kingslakes would, in just one-year’s time, be at the start of a major academic optics program.The Institute of Applied Optics (later renamed Institute of Optics) had just been established at the University of Rochester in March 1929. T. Russell Wilkins of the physics department was appointed acting director. Over dinner at Brown’s Hotel in London, the university’s president, Rush Rhees, entertained, interviewed, and successfully recruited Rudolf to the institute. Rudolf was appointed assistant professor of geometrical optics and optical design on 15 June 1929 on the president’s recommendation: “By training and experience he is admirably fitted to contribute to the development and significance of our new enterprise.” When asked by the university’s trustees about the relative youth of Rudolf in his first full-time appointment, Rhees reportedly said that they “should not be concerned since it was something that he would undoubtedly grow out of.”In the meantime, Rudolf’s relationship with Hilda went further than just a visit to the zoo. They married on 14 September 1929 and sailed to America so that Rudolf could take up his position at the institute. They started their careers in the US; Hilda was a very active member of the Optical Society of America (OSA), and through the society provided exceptional and distinguished service to the field of optical science and engineering and to the professional international community of scholars. Their many contributions to the life of the University of Rochester and the greater Rochester community are well regarded, recognized, and documented.Rudolf had a lifelong career in association with the Institute of Optics and developed the teaching materials for the first courses in lens design and geometrical optics formally offered in the US. In 1936, the Kingslakes spent a sabbatical at Imperial College under an exchange arrangement that brought Martin to Rochester. With Rudolf’s unusual sense of humor, he commented that “Martin and I exchanged jobs, houses, and cars—but not wives.” He served the university as a full-time faculty member until 1937, when, at the invitation of C. E. Kenneth Mees, head of Kodak Research Laboratories, Rudolf joined the Eastman Kodak Co in Rochester. His initial appointment at Kodak was as a lens designer, but he became head of the department two years later.During his first year at Kodak, Rudolf divided his time between that office and the Institute of Optics. In 1956, he was appointed director of optical design at Kodak’s apparatus and optical division. Rudolf continued at the institute as a part-time professor until well into his eighties.The Kingslakes made many contributions to the literature of our field. Hilda’s early technical papers are still referenced and have lasting and significant value. Her insightful contributions on the history of optics are equally valuable, including her article “Fifty-Year History of the Optical Society of America, 1916–1966,” which was published in the March 1966 issue of the Journal of the Optical Society of America, and The First Fifty Years: The Institute of Optics, 1929–1979 (Institute of Optics, 1979), together with its sequel The Institute of Optics, 1929–1987 (Institute of Optics, 1987). Hilda’s last publication was on the history of optics: a paper in Optics and Photonics News in 1991 entitled “The First Institute of Optics in the World.” The work traced the early days of the formation and development of Imperial College’s optics department, of which her father had such a pivotal role and of which she and Rudolf had firsthand knowledge. Another important contribution to applied optics and its history is the article “Alexander Eugen Conrady, 1866–1944” that she wrote jointly with Rudolf. The article was published in 1966 in Applied Optics. Rudolf is renowned for his many seminal papers on optical design that have so impacted the field. He is even more recognized for his dedication to teaching the principles and applications of optical design and his expository writings in lecture notes and books. Generations of students have attended his formal courses and even more professionals have returned to Rochester to attend short courses offered in the summer. One of his fondest memories was the two-week course that he and I taught together at Tel Aviv University under the auspices of the Israeli Physical Society back in 1973. His many books deserve special mention. They include Lenses in Photography: The Practical Guide to Optics for Photographers (Case-Hoyt Corp, 1951), Lens Design Fundamentals (Academic Press, 1978), Optical System Design (Academic Press, 1983), and A History of the Photographic Lens (Academic Press, 1989). The multivolume series Applied Optics and Optical Engineering: A Comprehensive Treatise (Academic Press, 1965–69) has enduring value. Rudolf’s last publication was a small but elegant volume on The Photographic Manufacturing Companies of Rochester, New York, published in 1997 by the International Museum of Photography at the George Eastman House, where Rudolf spent many volunteer hours sorting and cataloging photographic lenses, cameras, shutters, and other devices and instruments.Conrady had published part one of his book Applied Optics and Optical Design (Oxford U. Press) in 1929 but died before completing the second part. However, he left a well-advanced manuscript in his remarkably clear handwriting that the Kingslakes were able to use to complete part two, which was published in 1960 as “edited and completed by Dr. Rudolf Kingslake” and contained a foreword signed by “Hilda G. Conrady Kingslake.” Conrady was a major force in their lives and in the history of lens design. When, in 1990, SPIE-The International Society for Optical Engineering wished to establish the Conrady Award in Optical Engineering, William L. Wolfe, SPIE’s president at the time, wrote Rudolf and Hilda to ask their permission to use the Conrady name. As noted in her private papers, Hilda’s reply was: “Of course I am more than happy to give the required permission, and thank the Committee for having the name under consideration, for Father was indeed the real pioneer in the teaching of lens design and applied optics. Rudolf was his great disciple who lectured straight Conrady in his first years of teaching at the University of Rochester.” In 1990, SPIE presented the very first award to Hilda and Rudolf Kingslake. The Kingslakes were honored in another way by SPIE: In 1974, the society had established the Kingslake Medal and Prize for the most original paper to appear in the SPIE journal Optical Engineering. The Kingslakes’ involvement in professional societies was very significant. Rudolf was president of the OSA in 1947–48. Later, both of them were made fellows, and Rudolf, in 1973, received the society’s highest award, the Frederic Ives Medal. They both received awards and commendations from many civic and other professional societies. The University of Rochester honored them by awarding an honorary degree to Rudolf in 1986 and creating the Rudolf and Hilda Kingslake Chair in the Institute of Optics in 1989.Rudolf and Hilda Kingslake were real people—warm, friendly, modest, and caring. Certainly my wife and I are representative of the many people who counted Hilda and Rudolf as significant friends and vital colleagues. We cherish their memory and applaud their contributions. Rudolf Kingslake and Hilda Gertrude Kingslake KINGSLAKE ARCHIVE, U. OF ROCHESTERPPT|High resolution© 2003 American Institute of Physics.