Talk:Bruce H. Billings

This page relates to a famous scientist in the field of optics (physics). We are currently trying to upload information on all previous presidents of the Optical Society of America. The society was founded in 1916 and its membership totals more than 14,000 individuals from over 81 countries. Therefore we feel that this information is of note. We are starting by creating very short articles for each president and will then flesh them out. Ciaradublin (talk) 00:29, 22 February 2009 (UTC)
 * I'm going to PROD the article instead of speedily deleting it. That'll give you five days to add content.  In general, when there's little to no content, it's hard to tell short articles on notable people from short articles on non-notable people.  The importance of OSA is not obvious to many Wikipedia editors.  Cheers, Jclemens (talk) 04:18, 22 February 2009 (UTC)

Bruce Billings was something of a genius and a very colorful character in a company with a LOT of colorful characters, as I knew it, in 1959-1961 when I worked there. One of the stories Bruce often told was of his time at Polaroid Corporation, in its early days, before its great success with instant photography. During one period, cash was tight, and Dr. Land was finding it hard to pay his employees. He offered Bruce stock in the company in lieu of a paycheck, and Bruce was willing to accept that, but his wife was not. She told him in no uncertain terms that he was NOT to accept ANY Polaroid stock in place of his paycheck. And so, he did not. I no longer recall what Bruce said that decision cost him -- some $ millions, I believe. Frank Ferguson - frankatca - Jan 9, 2010 — Preceding unsigned comment added by Frankatca (talk • contribs) 23:14, 9 January 2011 (UTC)