Throwback Thursday: The Origin of the Word “Laser”

“What’s in a name?” It is difficult to imagine a laser called by any other name. The word itself sounds a bit futuristic in nature. While the unaware may imagine that the laser was simply named upon discovery, the history of the word has an intriguing depth and history to it. Before the 20th century, “laser” […]

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The Laser’s Founding Father: Remembering Charles H. Townes

By Geoff Giordano In his 1999 book How the Laser Happened, the late Charles Hard Townes explained that, “Once invented, lasers found a myriad of uses” and noted that they had advanced to the point that “the smallest lasers are so tiny one cannot see them without a microscope.” A far cry from the heady […]

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