Sherman K. Poultney *62

Sherman died Feb. 9, 2023, in Pittsboro, N.C.

Born in Leominster, Mass., in 1937, he graduated from Worcester Polytechnic Institute in 1958 and earned a Ph.D. in physics from Princeton in 1962.

In 1964, Sherman joined the physics faculty at the University of Maryland. He led the electro-optics team responsible for the lunar laser ranging reflector placed on the moon during the Apollo 11 flight. The lunar ranging ground station achieved the first laser-range measurement to the moon, and the reflector remains in use by scientists worldwide.

In 1975, he became a senior scientist with Perkin-Elmer Corp. He assembled the first Fourier transform spectrometer, the first heterodyne spectrometer, and the first tunable diode laser spectrometer. When Hughes Danbury Optical Systems acquired Perkin-Elmer Optical Systems, Sherman became a system engineer for optical and spectrometric sensor systems and manager for a visible imager project for the Strategic Defense Initiative space program.

He also developed requirements and system architecture for plasma-shaping cluster tools at metrology stations with SFAM/IPEC; consulted for ASML/Silicon Valley Group on equipment to fabricate micro circuits on silicon wafers, and taught at Fairfield University.

Sherman is survived by wife JoAnn, son Christopher, stepson David Isaacs, and granddaughter Ruth.

Graduate memorials are prepared by the APGA.