Pablo Artal

Pablo Artal was born in Zaragoza, Spain, where he studied Physics at the University of Zaragoza. He was a predoctoral fellow at the CSIC Instituto de Óptica in Madrid and later held postdoctoral positions at the University of Cambridge (UK) and the Institut d’Optique in Orsay (France). After returning to Spain, he obtained a permanent research position at the Instituto de Óptica. In 1994 he became the first Full Professor of Optics at the University of Murcia, where he founded the Laboratorio de Óptica (LOUM). He has also spent sabbatical periods at the University of Rochester (USA) and the University of Sydney (Australia). He is currently also a Distinguished Visiting Professor at the Aier School of Ophthalmology, Central South University, Changsha, China. His research focuses on the optics of the eye and retina and on the development of optical and electronic imaging techniques for vision science, ophthalmology and biomedicine. He pioneered innovative methods for studying the optics of the eye and contributed substantially to understanding the factors that limit human visual resolution. Many of his concepts and developments in ophthalmic instrumentation have been translated into devices currently used in clinical ophthalmology. He has published more than 500 peer-reviewed papers that have received more than 28,500 citations (h-index 90, Google Scholar). He has delivered more than 250 invited lectures at international conferences and approximately 150 seminars at research institutions worldwide. He was elected Fellow of the Optical Society (now Optica) in 1999, Fellow of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) in 2009 (Gold Fellow in 2013), Fellow of the European Optical Society in 2014, and Fellow of SPIE in 2016. In 2013 he received the Edwin H. Land Medal from the Optical Society (Optica) and the Society for Imaging Science and Technology (IS&T) for contributions to diagnostic and correction technologies in visual optics. In 2014 he was awarded a European Research Council (ERC) Advanced Grant. In 2015 he received the King Jaime I Award in New Technologies. In 2018 he received the Spanish National Research Award “Juan de la Cierva”, and in 2019 the Edgar D. Tillyer Award of Optica for the pioneering use of optical and photonic technologies to understand the human visual system and improve eye diagnostics and correction. In 2021 he received the Medal of the Spanish Royal Physics Society. He is co-inventor of more than 40 international patents in optics and ophthalmology and co-founder of several technology-based spin-off companies translating research concepts into clinical instruments and ophthalmic devices.