Inventing the Laser

Charles Townes never knows when he’ll have his next “eureka” moment, but when they happen he remembers them vividly. There was the sunny spring morning in 1951, when he sat in a park in Washington, DC, pondering the nature of electromagnetic radiation. Like a bolt of light, a revelation hit him. Soon it would be talked about around the world. The idea that came to Townes that morning led to his co-invention of the laser—a tool that has revolutionized medicine—and garnered him a Nobel Prize in Physics.

In medicine today, lasers are one of the most vital and versatile surgical tools—used for everything from reattaching retinas and removing hard-to-reach tumors to cauterizing wounds and treating skin disorders.

“I knew the laser would be important, but I couldn’t have imagined all the ways it would be used,” Townes says. “That’s the nature of scientific exploration. It takes you in directions you can never predict.”

Now 86, he has never lost the habit of seeking new ideas.

“I still enjoy just sitting and turning over a problem in my head,” he says. “I don’t always come up with an answer. But every now and then,” he snaps his fingers. “I do.”

Related Links

• Faculty Profile
• UC Berkeley Infrared Spatial Interferometer Array
• Charles H. Townes Biography - Nobel e-Museum

Charles H. Townes, PhD, is a professor in the Graduate School and winner of the 1964 Nobel Prize in Physics.

< Previous | Next >