Inventions
The Laser
Also Known As Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation LASER is itself an acronym; this is its own full expansion.
Citation Formats
General Reference
APA Style
BibTeX
The laser produces a narrow, intense beam of light in which every photon shares the same wavelength and phase, a coherence ordinary light lacks. Theodore Maiman built and operated the first working laser, a synthetic ruby crystal device, at Hughes Research Laboratories on May 16, 1960, drawing on the stimulated emission theory Albert Einstein described in 1917 and the maser, the laser's microwave predecessor. Gordon Gould had independently worked out the same principles in a notebook in 1957 and coined the word laser there, but he did not file for a patent until 1959 and spent nearly three decades in litigation before finally winning key patents on the technology in the 1970s and 1980s.
Facts
Patent or First-Use DateFirst operation of Maiman's ruby laser at Hughes Research Laboratories, May 16, 1960. SignificanceThe laser made possible fiber optic communication, barcode scanning, precision surgery, industrial cutting and welding, and the optical storage behind the compact disc, becoming one of the most widely applied inventions of the twentieth century despite starting as a laboratory demonstration with no obvious use. 1 Disputed
Year1960
1960 is the year Maiman's device first operated, the conventional founding date; Gould's notebook conception in 1957 predates it by three years and was the basis of his eventual patents. Cross-Tradition Connections
Associated With
Practical fiber-optic communication depends on the laser as its light source.
In Field
Held Differently
Gordon Gould, Engineers Why this is disputed. Gould's 1957 notebook, later notarized, documents the laser's operating principles and the word "laser" itself three years before Maiman built a working device, but Gould did not file for a patent until 1959 and had to fight for patent recognition for nearly three decades.
Invented By
Sources
Reader Challenges (0 open reader challenges)
No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.
Sign in to dispute this or suggest a correction.
View At A Past Year
The atlas records no dated fact of its own for this entry, so there is no other year to choose.