Hi Kareem,
I could hardly refuse a bit of free publicity! It is fine with me. I think we will make an effort to come to the meeting in Exeter next year.
Best regards, John
Dr John Sandercock
The Table Stable Ltd.
Vibration Isolation & JRS Optical Instruments
Im Grindel 6
8932 Mettmenstetten
Switzerland
Tel: +41 (0)44 776 33 66
Fax: +41 (0)44 776 33 65
Email: j.sandercock@tablestable.com
From: Kareem Elsayad [mailto:kareem.elsayad@meduniwien.ac.at]
Sent: Friday, December 5, 2025 1:26 AM
To: John R. Sandercock
Cc: newsletter@biobrillouin.org
Subject: Quick fact check
Hi John,
Hope all well. We missed you at last BioBrillouin meeting (we had over 100 people!). Next year will be in Exeter – maybe see you then?
In the BioBrillouin Newsletter (that goes out to all in our little community), we always put a “fun fact” at the end.
Had idea for following fun fact (pasted below) for next one. It involves you (!) and wanted to fact check with you before using and make sure you are okay with – please make any changes/edits however you see fit…
All the best,
Kareem
How is the success of Brillouin Light Scattering spectroscopy connected to the success of Elvis Presley?
One of the key enabling commercial technologies that brought Brillouin light scattering to “common” scientific usage (starting in the ~1970-1980’s) was the 6-pass Tandem Fabry Perot spectrometer, developed by John Sandercock.
John Sandercock at the time worked for Radio Corporation of America (RCA) – a company founded in 1919 by General Electric with the initial aim of acquiring assets of Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company. RCA are probably most famous for introducing both the black-and-white and colour television to homes around the world. As with other large electronics companies at the time (Bell Labs, Xerox, etc.), investing in basic/applied research was “cool” and well-funded. RCA went through a number of liquidations of its divisions, and changes in ownership. Two assets associated with the brand-name RCA that still remain are NBC and RCA Records. RCA Records famously signed a young Elvis Presley in 1955 from a small Nashville label (Sun Records) for a nominal fee, and released his records to the masses, making him the worlds’ first “Rock Star”. These changes in focus of the RCA company in the 1980’s, also led John Sandercock to start his own company (Table Stable Ltd) which commercialized the first Brillouin Spectrometer. It was a win-win!