How the Laser Happened. Adventures of a Scientist. (SIGNED BY CHARLES H. TOWNES.)

TOWNES, Charles H. [Hard] (1915-2015):

ISBN 10: 0195122682 / ISBN 13: 9780195122688

Published by Oxford, etc.: Oxford University Press, [1999]., 1999

About this Item

First Edition, third printing. Original cloth. Near Fine, in near fine dust jacket. Inscribed: 'Pat and Herb We are very/pleased that you enjoy the farm, and/have made it even more enjoyable to/all./Our very best to you. Hope our/paths will cross more often./Chas H. Townes/Oct. 21 '00.' Townes may be referring to his birthplace: 'Charlie Townes was born on 28 July 1915 in Greenville, South Carolina. He grew up on a farm, and often emphasized that his interest in science and nature started there, when he and his older brother Henry explored the woods and streams around their home' (Bulletin of the AAS, Vol. 47, Issue 1, Dec. 1, 2015). The Nobel Prize in Physics 1964 was divided, one half awarded to Charles Hard Townes, the other half jointly to Nicolay Gennadiyevich Basov and Aleksandr Mikhailovich Prokhorov '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.'.

Seller Inventory # 25147

Bibliographic Details

• Title: How the Laser Happened. Adventures of a Scientist. (SIGNED BY CHARLES H. TOWNES.)
• Publisher: Oxford, etc.: Oxford University Press, [1999].
• Publication Date: 1999
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0195122682
• ISBN 13: 9780195122688
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Condition: Near Fine
• Dust Jacket Condition: Near Fine
• Signed: Signed by Author(s)

About this title

Synopsis

Charles Townes, a Nobel laureate, is one of the leading figures in twentieth-century physics, inventor of the maser and the laser, and one of the pioneers in the use of spectroscopic techniques to determine the atomic composition of stars. This book is the memoir of a life devoted to scientific research, and also to the application of this research in the public sphere.

About the Author

Charles Townes is one of the leading figures in twentieth-century physics, intentor of the maser, co-inventor of the laser, and a pioneer in microwave spectroscopy for molecular and nuclear physics and in the use of radio and infrared spectroscopic techniques for astronomy. A Nobel laureate, Townes was also one of the first academic scientists to accept a full-time position advising the Executive Branch during the Cold War, and was founder of the Jasons, an influential group of scientists independently advising the government. He also served on the Board of General Motors.