 The book, first published in 1949, is often referred to as ""Sears and Zemansky"", although Hugh Young became a coauthor in 1973.In 1932 he collaborated with Peter Debye in the discovery of what is now called the Debye-Sears effect, the diffraction of light by ultrasonic waves.Sears was a Fellow of the Optical Society of America, and was active in the American Association of Physics Teachers, serving as its president in 1956.