A long-time University of Iowa electrical and computer engineering professor, who earned acclaim for advancing knowledge of the interplay of sound waves and light waves, died at age 91 on October 1, 2023, in Oro Valley, Arizona. Adrianus “Adrian” Korpel was a beloved teacher and renowned researcher of acousto-optics whose life outside of engineering was as rich as it was marked by loss.
Born on February 18, 1932, in Rotterdam, Netherlands, Korpel survived the German bombing of Rotterdam in 1940 during World War II and then lived in foster care for two years while his parents laid a new foundation. Entering adulthood, Korpel studied electrical engineering, earning a bachelor’s, master’s, and PhD from the Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands.
From serving as postmaster general in Melbourne, Australia, Korpel jumped to Zenith Radio Corp. in Chicago in 1960, ultimately directing research in engineering physics before his 17-year career there ended in 1977. His 1966 invention, Bragg Diffraction Imaging, created an optical technique for sound field visualization and inspired his PhD thesis in 1969.
“As director of research, you do everything except research,” Korpel would tell his students as he turned to academic life. At Iowa beginning in 1977, Korpel developed broad theories in the field of acousto-optics. His focus expanded to investigate nonlinear waves, experiment with subharmonic generation and self-refraction in capillary-gravity waves, and explore microscopy and metrology. During his career, Korpel patented nearly 40 inventions and authored more than 120 technical and scientific papers.
Honors were numerous: IEEE Fellow, recognition for “one of the most significant new technical products of the year,” Citizens’ Council of Metropolitan Chicago’s Outstanding New Citizen, Associate Foreign Member of the Royal Academy of Belgium, and Fellow of the Optical Society of America.
His impact was felt long after former students made their own contributions to the world. Former mentees traveled to Arizona to celebrate his 90th birthday and published a biographical article titled “Adrian Korpel: A Life in Science,” in the December 2022 edition of Optics & Photonics News, a scholarly journal.
“Dr. Korpel was among the rarest of scientists with a genuinely Renaissance man bend,” Monish Chatterjee, a former master’s and PhD student and now professor at the University of Dayton, wrote upon his death. “The window of his mind was wide open to every possible area of human (and humane) interest, even though he was deeply rooted in the queries and discoveries of science, which stimulated him like nothing else.”
Outside the university, Korpel contributed a monthly column called “At Random” to the Iowa City Press-Citizen and founded the Kalevala Writers’ Group for poetry and fiction.
Korpel is survived by his third wife, Ann Ellsworth, with whom he became snowbirds in Arizona in retirement. They traveled to Mexico and the Netherlands and participated in bike and barge tours. Korpel’s first wife, Abalone (Loni) Israel, died after nearly 40 years of marriage. His second wife, Patricia Gants, died of cancer not long after they were married. Joost Korpel, his adult son, died in 2013. Other survivors include members of his blended families, including a nephew, stepchildren and their spouses, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.