Francisco Javier "Frank" Duarte is a laser physicist and author/editor of several well-known books on tunable lasers. He introduced the generalized multiple-prism dispersion theory and has discovered various multiple-prism grating oscillator laser configurations. These configurations include the multiple-prism near-grazing-incidence grating cavities originally disclosed as copper-laser-pumped narrow-linewidth tunable lasers. Duarte's contributions have found applications in a variety of fields including:

From the mid 1980s to early 1990s Duarte and scientists from the US Army Missile Command developed, and demonstrated, ruggedized narrow-linewidth laser oscillators tunable directly in the visible spectrum. This pioneering work led to experimentation with polymer gain media and in 1994 Duarte reported on the first narrow-linewidth tunable solid state dye laser oscillators. These dispersive oscillator architectures were then refined to yield single-longitudinal-mode emission limited only by Heisenberg's uncertainty principle. His work on solid-state organic-inorganic materials led to the assessment of intra-gain-medium interference phenomena and to the emission of low-divergence homogeneous laser beams from polymer-nanoparticle gain media. In 2005 Duarte and colleagues were the first to demonstrate directional coherent emission from an electrically excited organic semiconductor. These experiments utilized a tandem OLED within an interferometric configuration.

Frederick John Robinson, 1st Earl of Ripon PC (1 November 1782 – 28 January 1859), styled The Honourable F. J. Robinson until 1827 and known as The Viscount Goderich /ˈɡoʊdrɪtʃ/GOHD-rich between 1827 and 1833, the name by which he is best known to history, was a British statesman. He was briefly Prime Minister of the United Kingdom between August 1827 and January 1828.

A member of the rural landowning aristocracy, Robinson entered politics through family connections. In the House of Commons he rose through junior ministerial ranks, achieving cabinet office in 1818 as President of the Board of Trade. In 1823 he was appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer, a post he held for four years. In 1827 he was raised to the peerage, and in the House of Lords was Leader of the House and Secretary of State for War and the Colonies.

When the Prime Minister, George Canning, died in 1827 Goderich succeeded him, but was unable to hold together Canning's fragile coalition of moderate Tories and Whigs. He resigned after 144 days in office.