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Nobel Laureate and Laser Inventor Charles Townes Passes

Posted by samzenpus on from the rest-in-peace dept.

An anonymous reader writes Charles Hard Townes, a professor emeritus of physics at the University of California, Berkeley, who shared the 1964 Nobel Prize in Physics for invention of the laser and subsequently pioneered the use of lasers in astronomy, died early Tuesday in Oakland. He was 99. "Charlie was a cornerstone of the Space Sciences Laboratory for almost 50 years,” said Stuart Bale, director of the lab and a UC Berkeley professor of physics. “He trained a great number of excellent students in experimental astrophysics and pioneered a program to develop interferometry at short wavelengths. He was a truly inspiring man and a nice guy. We’ll miss him.”

39 of 73 comments (clear)

  1. Townes was Told that the Maser Was Impossible by paradigmsareconstruc · · Score: 5, Informative

    I encourage everybody to closely watch the reporting on his life story. What you will notice is consistently left out, in nearly every instance, is the actual historical lesson that Charles was told by numerous leading quantum theorists of the day that the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle precluded such a device. And they told him this even as he explained that he had already built a functional prototype. Check his autobiography. The history you hear for science is traditionally cleansed of the uncomfortable bits.

    1. Re:Townes was Told that the Maser Was Impossible by mbkennel · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Indeed. Bohr argued, even earlier, with Einstein on this issue, saying that stimulated emission was impossible. Einstein derived the rate equations for the laser.

      People erroneously imagine that Einstein was wrong about quantum mechanics. He wasn't. And in two central areas, the Copenhagen interpretation (it is a useful approximation but makes no sense as physics, decoherence does), and the laser, Bohr was wrong and Einstein was right.

    2. Re:Townes was Told that the Maser Was Impossible by Alomex · · Score: 2

      He also discovered electron tunneling, though he gave it as evidence of how nonsensical quantum mechanics was. He was correct on the derivation, but wrong on the interpretation.

    3. Re: Townes was Told that the Maser Was Impossible by ClickOnThis · · Score: 2

      False equivalence much? The limitations (or lack thereof) imposed on technology by the physical universe have nothing to do with what scripting languages a browser can support. The former is hard science. The latter is fanboyism.

      --
      If it weren't for deadlines, nothing would be late.
    4. Re:Townes was Told that the Maser Was Impossible by ClickOnThis · · Score: 2

      People erroneously imagine that Einstein was wrong about quantum mechanics. He wasn't. And in two central areas, the Copenhagen interpretation (it is a useful approximation but makes no sense as physics, decoherence does), and the laser, Bohr was wrong and Einstein was right.

      It's going too far to say that Bohr was wrong about the Copenhagen interpretation. There are several competing interpretations of quantum mechanics. None of them have been definitively ruled out, with the exception of local versions of the hidden-variable theory, as a consequence of Alain Aspect's experiments that tested the Bell inequality.

      --
      If it weren't for deadlines, nothing would be late.
    5. Re:Townes was Told that the Maser Was Impossible by tlhIngan · · Score: 4, Interesting

      He also discovered electron tunneling, though he gave it as evidence of how nonsensical quantum mechanics was. He was correct on the derivation, but wrong on the interpretation.

      Well, it IS nonsensical - I mean, by what means should an electron be able to go from point A to point B without acquiring the necessary energy to get over the energy barrier? Granted, the uncertainty principle means there's a chance it could "borrow" the energy temporarily, but that's a random event. What happened is we have a controllable way to tunnel electrons.

      These days we use electron tunnelling every day - the NAND flash chip relies on the floating gate to hold electrons and influence the transistor's parameters which is how it stores bits. And to get those electrons to the gate, we merely bias the transistor in such a way that electrons magically disappear and reappear on the floating gate, without shooting the electrons through the insulation.

      We don't get why or how they do it, but we can exploit it.

  2. Passes what? by thewils · · Score: 1, Interesting

    Wind? Seriously, what's wrong with the word "dies"?

    --
    Once I was a four stone apology. Now I am two separate gorillas.
    1. Re:Passes what? by Andurian · · Score: 1

      Sadly he did, in fact, die. However, for some reason they decided to reference a particularly poignant Scrabble event he participated in instead of that.

    2. Re: Passes what? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      It's not politically correct these days to use the word "died". Doing so may trigger somebody into remembering that the dead person is dead. That could lead to hurt feelings, and maybe even crying. Hurt feelings are NEVER acceptable! So everyone needs to change the words that they use so as to use terms that are more distanced from the real situation at hand.

    3. Re:Passes what? by XxtraLarGe · · Score: 1

      Wind? Seriously, what's wrong with the word "dies"?

      He was eaten by wolves. He was delicious.

      --
      Taking guns away from the 99% gives the 1% 100% of the power.
    4. Re:Passes what? by Chris+Mattern · · Score: 1

      Who said anything about dying? Obviously, the man is playing a round of bridge.

    5. Re:Passes what? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      I'm sorry that common English idioms frighten and confuse you.

    6. Re:Passes what? by TechyImmigrant · · Score: 1

      Wind? Seriously, what's wrong with the word "dies"?

      He was eaten by wolves. He was delicious.

      So he'll pass in 24 hours or so.

      --
      I should use this sig to advertise my book ISBN-13 : 978-1501515132.
    7. Re:Passes what? by garyok · · Score: 1

      I'm sorry that death frightens and confuses you.

      --
      One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors - Plato
    8. Re:Passes what? by oobayly · · Score: 1

      The best euphemism I've heard of is "achieved room temperature".

  3. A genuinely nice man by Epeeist · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I met him long ago, when I was doing my doctorate. His was one of the standard books on microwave spectroscopy. Apparently he was told that his work on creating the maser was a nice piece of physics, but one that would have no practical use...

    1. Re:A genuinely nice man by Chris+Mattern · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Over 50 years ago, they indeed had no practical use. For a some years a common quip about the laser was that it was "a solution in search of a problem." It wasn't until the 1970s that any widespread applications were invented (barcode scanners were the first one).

    2. Re:A genuinely nice man by Man+On+Pink+Corner · · Score: 4, Insightful

      This is one of my favorite responses to people who question the money spent on projects like RHIC and LHC. "You're right, there is no known application for this stuff. But aren't you glad nobody listened to your old man when he said the same thing about the laser?"

    3. Re:A genuinely nice man by ArcadeMan · · Score: 1

      Yeah sure, but wait another 50 years and you won't be laughing at the sharks problem.

      --
      Get free satoshi (Bitcoin) and Dogecoins
    4. Re:A genuinely nice man by BarbaraHudson · · Score: 2

      Just look at some of the medical applications.

      --
      "Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
    5. Re:A genuinely nice man by k6mfw · · Score: 1

      Decades ago someone asked a physicist (I wonder if it was Townes) how can a laser be used as a weapon. His answer was, "throw it at your target."

      --
      mfwright@batnet.com
  4. The Apocryphal Story... by braindrainbahrain · · Score: 4, Funny

    ...goes that they wanted to name the invention Light Oscillation by Stimulated Emission of Radiation, but nobody would like a LOSER

  5. Re: Passes by Dr.+Eggman · · Score: 1

    ... and he scores! The crowd is going wild!

    (My condolences to the family.)

    --
    Demented But Determined.
  6. Re:Passes by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 2

    Speakers of 19th century English?

    Death: "I've come for you."

    Townes: "No thanks, I'll pass... Oh, wait!"

    Death: "Muhehehehe!" [snatches him]

    --
    Ezekiel 23:20
  7. Re:The father of Star Wars by braindrainbahrain · · Score: 3, Informative

    Surely you jest, but to go along with you, we must remember that H.G. Wells wrote about the Martian invaders using a "heat ray" in 1898.

  8. He may pass.... by marcello_dl · · Score: 1

    But his legacy will shine in(to) our eyes FOREVER.

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    ---- MISSING MISCELLANEOUS DATA SEGMENT --- [sigdash] trolololol
  9. clarification on passing. by nimbius · · Score: 5, Funny

    For those of you not familiar with his work, Charles Townes likely passed through the gain medium repeatedly before emitted from the output aperture or lost to diffraction or absorption.

    --
    Good people go to bed earlier.
  10. And a thousand sharks cried by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    'nuff said

  11. Re:The father of Star Wars by Chris+Mattern · · Score: 2

    Sci-fi had pew-pew-pew long before there were lasers. Ask Buck Rogers. Or Kimball Kinnison--he'll be happy to show you his DeLamaters.

  12. Townes and Schawlow textbook by borknado · · Score: 3, Informative

    One of the best science texts ever. So far ahead of its time... http://books.google.com/books/...

  13. Re:Charlie's Angels by Chris+Mattern · · Score: 1

    That's Town*send*.

  14. When can we use the word "dies" again? by omfglearntoplay · · Score: 2

    Very sorry to hear that anyone dies, but death is part of life after all and there should be no shame in saying the word "dies". It bothers me that nobody likes to use the word "dies" or "dead" anymore, in U.S. pop culture at least. To me at least it seems like ever since that cheesy Crossing over with John Edwards show, everybody started using the word "passed" instead of "died". I know it's a terrible time for people close to those who die, but "passed" just sounds like an insult to the dead. At least say "passed away", which has dignity. "Passed" sounds like he passed gas, or drove by a diner on the highway, or something not at all sad or profound or dignified. Rant over.

  15. Passing by vanyel · · Score: 1

    He may have passed his peers in the past when he proved them wrong, but yesterday he didn't pass anyone (except maybe in the ambulance or hearse) - he *died*.

  16. Charles Townes' Nobel lecture by renergy · · Score: 3, Interesting

    http://www.nobelprize.org/nobe... Interesting reading.

  17. Re:By "pass" they mean "died" by PPH · · Score: 1

    When I pass, it is because I fart

    Yeah. But the rest of us are dying.

    --
    Have gnu, will travel.
  18. Gordon Gould, 1st laser inventor? by harvey+the+nerd · · Score: 1

    We should not forget Gordon Gould's statements about being Townes' grad student who made the major critical breakthroughs for the laser. Gould had a three decade patent war to win his patent claims to invention of the laser and many developments. It's an interesting story for an overage commie grad student...

    In the end, Japanese manufacturers paid over a billion $ royalties on Gould's patents.

  19. Re:Passes by oobayly · · Score: 3, Insightful

    This is why I loathe the euphemisms for death. I realised this when the man I sailed for (for over a decade) died. It wasn't a massive surprise, but still a shock. To most of us it was the end of an era. What struck me was that most of the others talked about "him passing", whereas I simply said " he died", and I caught a couple of glances when I said it like that.

    As another example - my sister was with friends (in a marina on a friend's boat - we like our sailing) and a guy walks down the companionway and said "X is gone". My sister stops talking (people come and go from marinas all the time), and then continues talking. The guy says " are you stupid or what - X has died ", making her feel like a shit.

    People die, it happens, but dispense with the euphemisms - there's nothing to be gained from them.

  20. Deathbed by speedplane · · Score: 3, Funny

    On his deathbed he said his biggest regret was his inability to mount his invention on sharks.

    --
    Fast Federal Court and I.T.C. updates
  21. What does his have to do with minorities by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    In today's enlightened age, we must put all stories in context of the growing gender divide, and the struggle of minorities to coexist with the massive white hegemony that exist in the America. (by America I mean only the USA; after all, Mexico, Suriname, and Chile are not and have never been part of America). The fact that you would even mention a story about Townes, an old white man, and not discuss how the stimulated emission of radiation has made it more difficult for the native Americans, and the African Americans to move up the glass ceiling of corporate America, makes me, and hopefully you, realize how much repressed racism exists /. .

    I demand an immediate apology, and a donation of 1 Million dollars to the Latino (and by latino I mean people who in fact speak Spanish, not Latin) scholarship fund. To help you ease out of your racism, I will volunteer to give the money to the fund, and act as a sort of middle man. Give me 1 Million dollars or I will let the media know that you guys hate black people. Also, you are probably a pedophile / terrorist / enemy to decency. The FBI and Secretive service are watching for creeps like you, and are standing by to confiscate your website. Give me my money or else