[an error occurred while processing this directive]	[an error occurred while processing this directive]

PTB Industry News				April 30 , 1999
Arthur Schawlow, Nobelist for Lasers, Dies

PALO ALTO, CA, Apr. 30 -- Dr. Arthur L. Schawlow, co-winner of the 1981 Nobel Prize in Physics for his work in the development of lasers, died on April 29 in Palo Alto, CA. He was 77. In the 1950s, Schawlow collaborated with Dr. Charles H. Townes in designing a device for Light Amplification by Simulated Emission of Radiation, which came to be known by its acronym: laser. Townes had invented the maser -- a microwave precursor to the laser. Schawlow and Townes first worked together at Columbia University to build upon the maser concept. The two scientists sought to invent a device that would amplify light in the way that the maser amplified microwaves. Schawlow's solution was to build a cavity consisting of a synthetic ruby that would serve as a resonator for light waves. When Schawlow and Townes published their idea in 1957, it prompted an international competition to build a working laser. It was Albert Einstein who first speculated about using high-intensity light, electricity, or radiation to energize substances such as crystals, liquids, or gases, then releasing their stored energy in powerful beams of light. There have been conflicting claims as to who actually invented the laser, but it is generally agreed that the first working laser was built by Dr. Theodore H. Maiman at Hughes Research Laboratories in Malibu, CA. The device was first operated on May 16, 1960. After leaving Columbia in the 1950s, Schawlow joined Bell Labs, where he studied superconductivity. On weekends, he continued his work with Townes at the Columbia laboratory. It was during this research that Schawlow and Townes arrived at a solution for amplifying visible light. Schawlow left Bell Labs in 1961 to join the faculty at Stanford University, where he worked with laser and microwave spectroscopy and superconductivity. Townes shared a 1964 Nobel Prize with Soviet physicists Dr. Aleksandr M. Prochorov and Dr. Nikolai G. Basov for their independent work on maser-laser technology. In 1981, Schawlow shared a Nobel Prize with Dr. Nicolaas Bloembergen of Harvard University for their contributions to the development of laser spectroscopy. Due to contractual obligations, neither Schawlow nor Townes profited financially from their laser patent. Schawlow was working for Bell Labs when the patent was issued, and Townes was a Bell Labs consultant. PTB Home