James Thomas Dakin, known as Jim, was born May 23, 1945, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. His interest in physics and light began at a very early age. He received a B.A. from Harvard College in 1967 and a Ph.D. from Princeton University in 1971. He worked as a post-doctoral student at Stanford University, then as an Assistant Professor at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst, Massachusetts, in 1974 and 1975. In 1976 he began a 37-year career with General Electric, primarily in lighting technology. Since retiring in 2012, he has worked as a consultant, and pursued a number of activities touching broader aspects of light.
