Philip J. Wyatt, Ph.D.

Philip J. Wyatt founded Wyatt Technology more than 40 years ago after inventing the very first commercial light scattering instruments incorporating lasers as their light source.

He received his undergraduate education in liberal arts, physics and mathematics at the University of Chicago, and Christ's College, Cambridge. His graduate education was completed at the University of Illinois (M.S.) and Florida State University (Ph.D.).

He was nominated by the National Academy of Science as one of the initial fifteen candidates for the country's first Scientist-Astronaut Selection Program. In 2003, he was named Graduate of Distinction by the College of Arts and Sciences at FSU.

He is the American Physical Society's 2009 recipient of the Prize for Industrial Applications of Physics with the citation, "For pioneering developments in the physics of the inverse scattering problem: new applications of laser light scattering and the successful sustained commercialization of new related analytical methods and instrumentation."

Dr. Wyatt is the recipient of the 2023 Kathryn C. Hach Award for Entrepreneurial Success.

Additionally Dr. Wyatt is the recipient of the 2022 American Physical Society’s George E. Pake Prize, “For pioneering accomplishments and entrepreneurial leadership exemplified by successful global commercialization of laser-based light scattering measurements with multiple applications in biotechnology, analytical chemistry, and nanoparticle characterization.”

He is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Optical Society of America, and the American Physical Society. In addition, he was the Chair (2012-2013) of the American Physical Society's largest unit, the Forum on Industrial and Applied Physics.

The author of more than seventy publications, he has co-authored or contributed to eleven books. He has had over thirty domestic patents issued relating to laser light scattering and other technologies and over sixty derived foreign patents and new filings. He is a Registered Agent before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

Dr. Wyatt's pioneering experience in the field of laser light scattering and particle size measurement includes:

  • Founding the first instrument company to incorporate a laser and an on-board microprocessor into its products
  • Developing the first commercial multi-angle laser light scattering instruments
  • Developing wide area warning systems against bioterrorist attacks