Aleksandar Prokhorov shared half of the 1964 Nobel Prize in physics with Nicolay Basov. The other half was awarded to Charles Townes. The three won the award "for fundamental work in the field of quantum electronics, which has led to the construction of oscillators and amplifiers based on the maser-laser principle.” Aleksandr Prokhorov began his physics contributions with a study of coherent radiation of accelerated electrons. He then began working on radio spectroscopy, microwave spectroscopy, and quantum electronics with Basov. They proposed an idea for a molecular oscillator. In 1955 they conducted studies on ruby spectra. By1957 they designed and constructed MASERs and suggested ruby as a candidate for a LASER .
