Charles Townes

Townes built the first MASER (Microwave Amplification by Stimulated Electromagnetic Radiation). This was the first demonstration of amplifiying electromagnetic radiation by stimulated emission. Significant theoretical contributions to the eventual creation of the LASER were by Schawlow, Townes, Gould, Prokhorov, and Basov. In 1960 Theodore Maiman created the first working LASER. Photo by Roy Kaltschmidt