title: 50 years of optics research [Invited].
abstract: The 50-year life span of Applied Optics covers also approximately the time I have been engaged in optics. I started in 1962 [1] with the Institute for Optics and Spectroscopy, which was one of several Academy Institutes (mission statement: "theoria cum praxi," G. Leibniz) located in Berlin-Adlershof on the area of the first airfield in Berlin dating back to the beginning of the 20th century.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Optics, Information and Photonics, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Staudtstr. 7/B2, Erlangen D91058, Germany.
authors.forename: Johannes
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Schwider