# Fame.am profile — machine-readable export
# Canonical URL: https://fame.am/person/peter-franken
# Generated: 2026-08-13T08:56:30.315Z

schema: https://schema.org/Person
url: "https://fame.am/person/peter-franken"
name: "Peter Franken"
slug: "peter-franken"
description: "Peter A. Franken was an American physicist who contributed to the field of nonlinear optics. He was president of the Optical Society of America in 1977.\nIn 1961, Professor Peter Franken and his coworkers in the Randall Laboratory at the University of Michigan observed for the first time the second-harmonic generation. This event launched a golden age in optical physics that has led to applications in fields ranging from optical communications and biological imaging to X-ray generation and homeland security. In 1985 he contributed an oral history to the American Institute of Physics in which he describes background and details of his early work."
tagline: "American physicist (1928–1999)"
image: "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/Peter_A._Franken%2C_May_1962.jpg?width=1200"
gender: "male"
country:
  name: "United States"
  isoCode: "US"
category:
  name: "Scientists"
  slug: "scientists"
profileType:
  name: "Scientist"
  slug: "scientist"
  entityType: "https://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q39631"
birthDate: "1928-11-10"
deathDate: "1999-03-11"
livingStatus: "DECEASED"
scores:
  popularity:           36.54
  momentum:             0
  historical:           6.336501333333334
  currentAttention:     0
  sourceConfidence:     39.99999999999999
  profileCompleteness:  70
  trendDirection:       "STABLE"
ranks:
  global:   null
  country:  null
  category: null
sources:
  - url: "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Peter_Franken"
    title: "Wikiquote"
    type:  "WEBSITE"
  - url: "https://azb.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D9%BE%DB%8C%D8%AA%D8%B1_%D9%81%D8%B1%D8%A7%D9%86%DA%A9%D9%86"
    title: "پیتر فرانکن"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Franken_(Physiker)"
    title: "Peter Franken (Physiker)"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Franken"
    title: "Peter Franken"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://fa.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D9%BE%DB%8C%D8%AA%D8%B1_%D9%81%D8%B1%D8%A7%D9%86%DA%A9%D9%86"
    title: "پیتر فرانکن"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Franken"
    title: "Peter Franken"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Franken"
    title: "Peter Franken"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1472237"
    title: "Wikidata"
    type:  "WIKIDATA"

# bio (long form, separated for readability)
bio: |
  Imported from discovery source: wikidata-dump