Tina E. Kidger
CEO – Kidger Optics Associates, Business Woman, Mother
Tina was born Tina E. Webb in Redditch, in the UK’s West Midlands, where she spent most of her formative years. She received a bachelor’s degree (1957) from Redditch College, Worcestershire, UK (now part of Heart of Worcestershire College), majoring in business and education. In 1961, she became the personal assistant to Prof. R. L. Goodstein, Mathematics, at Leicester University. Tina married Michael John Kidger on 26 November 1960 at Saint George’s Church, Redditch, Worcestershire. When Michael left industry to pursue his Ph.D. and subsequent academic career at Imperial College, London, in 1963, Tina assumed a full-time support role for him, enabling his academic success. Together they raised two children, Julia and David, moving from Leicester to London, Orpington, Chelsfield Park, and Crowborough during their years of child-rearing and professional life.
In 1982, Tina and Michael developed and marketed the first fully functional line of UK-developed optical design software under the brand SIGMA and the company Kidger Optics Ltd. Kidger Optics became a leader in converting optical design software from batch processing to PC and portable platforms, allowing expert optical design on standardized desktops. As Managing Director, Tina oversaw SIGMA software development through various upgrades until the final 1998 release of SIGMA 2100.
During this period, Tina and Michael traveled extensively to promote their software and teach internationally. Tina was active in the optics community, serving on the Exhibitor’s Committee of SPIE – the Society of Photographic Instrumentation Engineers – where she built extensive business contacts and friendships.
In 2002, Tina married Emery L. Moore, who passed away on September 13, 2025 after a wonderful and happy marriage of 23 years.
Shortly after the release of SIGMA 2100, Michael passed away unexpectedly on a teaching trip to Australia. Tina continued managing Kidger Optics as an optical design consultancy rather than a software developer. Today, many designers worldwide continue to use SIGMA, and Kidger Optics’ algorithms are incorporated into optical design software internationally. Tina sold the rights to Kidger software to a major competitor. She is currently CEO of Kidger Optics Associates. Tina remarried Emery L. Moore, Ph.D., engineer/physicist and former President of SPIE (1990). She remains active in the optics community through Kidger Optics Associates, the UK Optical Design Meetings (UKODMs), and the Spanish Optical Design Meetings (ESODMs). At her suggestion, SPIE Europe initiated its Illumination Design conferences, now part of SPIE’s European Optical Systems Design Symposiums, where Tina serves as Honorary Symposium Chair.
Since 2004, Tina has been European Events Consultant for Synopsys’ Optical Systems Group, now Keysight, and is an emeritus member of the Board of Directors of the European Optical Society (BOD member, c. 2002–2006). She was featured in SPIE’s Women in Optics in 2009 and 2010, awarded SPIE Senior Membership in 2015, OSA Senior Membership in 2016, and became a SPIE Fellow in January 2022.
In 1999, Tina established the Michael Kidger Memorial Scholarship to honor Michael’s memory in the optical design community. The awardee is chosen annually by a fourteen-member selection committee and Chair of world-renowned optical design experts. The scholarship has become highly prestigious and career-enhancing. As of 2025, there are twenty-six awardees, each celebrated on the Kidger Optics website. Contributions come from friends and former students of Tina and Michael worldwide, with the fund maintained under SPIE’s care. Tina remains the principal organizer and manager of the scholarship.
In 2017, Tina assisted Professor Michael Damzen at Imperial College London with the “Optics Centenary Event” (OCE), celebrating 100 years since the founding of the Department of Technical Optics. She chaired the opening session, recorded and published “A Chronicle” of the event, and secured all sponsorship funding.
Tina served on the Adolph Lomb Medal award committee (OSA) from 2019 to 2021 and completed a book review for the UK Institute of Physics in 2019. After Michael’s passing in 1998, Tina organized his teaching notes, which were published in two volumes: Fundamental Optical Design (SPIE Press, 2002) and Intermediate Optical Design (SPIE Press, 2004), now selling over 2,800 copies.
Today, Tina continues as CEO of Kidger Optics Associates, European Events Consultant forKeysight, and maintains over 39 years of service to the optical community through OPTICA and SPIE.