

Nobel laureate and laser inventor Charles Townes dies at 99 - rdhyee
http://newscenter.berkeley.edu/2015/01/27/nobel-laureate-and-laser-inventor-charles-townes-dies-at-99/

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cshimmin
Charlie Townes was a really great man. I remember how he used to somewhat
regularly show up to the undergrad physics seminar 5 minutes late, grab a
slice of pizza, and then leave 5 minutes later. At ~92 years old, nobody could
do anything but smile! One time a seminar speaker, bemused by his sudden
appearance then disappearance, decided to share with us a cool anecdote:

Back during WWII, Townes was working on Radar navigation tech for bombers. He
and another scientist were sitting in the back of a military plane, doing
experiments off the cost of Florida or someplace. They had finished their
measurements and told the pilot to turn around and head home. They were
continuing to play around with their toys when they realized that, according
to their radar, they were heading _away_ from the coast.

The two scientists went up to the cockpit, claiming there had been a
navigation error, insisting they must turn around. The pilot must have been
crazy to listen to these two geeks, frantically trying to explain radar (which
basically didn't exist yet!), but eventually agreed. If they hadn't turned
around, that plane would have run out of fuel and crashed somewhere over the
Atlantic. In that world, perhaps the laser still would not have been invented!

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tmuir
>In that world, perhaps the laser still would not have been invented!

Actually, the maser/laser is one of those innovations that had multiple
independent developers, at multiple points of it's development. Various
components can be attributed to different people, but the true "Inventor of
the Laser" is somewhat murky and disputed.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laser#History](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laser#History)

~~~
cshimmin
Fair enough! It's always interesting to hear these cases of ideas that must
have been in the air. I've heard it said that if Einstein got hit by a bus,
Lorentz (or someone) probably would have gotten Special Relativity wrapped up
eventually, but that perhaps nobody else would have come up with General
Relativity even yet.

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palimpsests
While in grad school at UCB, I once found myself in physics building elevator
with Dr. Townes and 2 young undergrads. The students were taking an intro
level physics course, non-physics majors, and didn't know who he was. They
started talking about the class, and lasers in particular, and how cool they
were. Dr. Townes didn't say anything, but I still enjoyed being present for
that.

~~~
ffn
I remember being such an undergrad at UC Berkeley. I'd walk into Physics 7A at
the beginning of the semester with wide-eyed admiration for the teaching
staff, undisguised interest to learn all about Townes's lasers, Smoot's
universe, etc., and a wild wondering of "when can I do that stuff?"

Then I'd get put in my place by the first few homeworks. Then would came the
midterms, which all happen at 7-10pm so I got to walk out of the Dwinelle Hall
into appropriately hopeless darkness and a gnawing fear I might not make it
out alive. And, as the Fall semester continues, the days get shorter while the
material gets harder until even the basic equations of the class seem to be
hinting that My Ass = F'd. But, after a lot of flailing and struggling, most
of us survive the class with a renewed respect for how hard physics is, how
inexplicable gyroscopic motion can be, how brilliant the profs are, and also
how willing they are to spend their time teaching dumb undergrads like me the
ways of the universe.

~~~
jloughry
That was beautifully written.

~~~
gameshot911
Agreed.

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thisrod
Here's the transcript of his Nobel Lecture:

[http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/196...](http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1964/townes-
lecture.pdf)

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amalag
While I do not know him personally, he was involved with an institution that I
have some association with.

It is not well known but he has a spiritual side as well. This is a book made
from conversations on spirituality.

[http://books.google.com/books/about/God_is_a_person.html?id=...](http://books.google.com/books/about/God_is_a_person.html?id=4e1NAQAAIAAJ)

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cc439
What an accomplished man.

I feel a bit of a personal connection to his legacy as I live on the street
where he was born (which now carries his name).

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chucksmart
I think its horrible to eulogize a homophobic bible beater from the south, on
hn, of all places!

