Dror Sarid, 78, died Feb. 25, 2017.
Dr. Sarid was born in Haifa, Israel. He was raised on a kibbutz and fought in the Six-Day War in 1967. He married Lea in 1962 and they had two sons. He earned his Ph.D. in solid state physics at Hebrew University in Jerusalem.
The family moved in 1972 to California, where Dr. Sarid did post-doctoral research at the University of California at Santa Barbara. In 1974, they moved to Rochester, N.Y., where he was on the research staff at Xerox. They returned in 1978 to Israel, where Dr. Sarid was an assistant professor of solid state physics at the Hebrew University. The Sarid family moved in 1980 to Tucson, where he was appointed full professor at the University of Arizona College of Optical Sciences and the department of physics. He continued to work with laser technology in general and with degenerate four-wave mixing, a technique that permits engineers to control the transmission of light waves in ultrathin metal layers with other light waves. One of his contributions was so vital that it bears his name, the Sarid configuration. These results were published in several papers around 1984.
In the following years, Dr. Sarid began a group at Optical Sciences devoted to the newly discovered technique of atomic-force microscopy and in 1991, he published an authoritative textbook on the subject, while making critical progress that benefited microelectronics, biotechnology and other fields.
Dr. Sarid did research and published in other areas, including software technology. He was a member of the UA Faculty Senate and directed the Information Storage Center at the College of Optical Sciences for several years. He retired in 2010.
He was a member of the Tucson Jewish Community Center and Congregation Anshei Israel. He was an avid supporter of the J’s book club and the Tucson International Jewish Film Festival.
Dr. Sarid was preceded in death by his wife, Lea. Survivors include his sons, Rami Sarid of Scottsdale and Uri (Karen) Sarid of Berkeley, Calif.; and one grandson.
Graveside services were held in the Congregation Anshei Israel section of Evergreen Cemetery with Rabbi Robert Eisen officiating.
Memorial contributions may be made to the Tucson Jewish Community Center.
