Charles H. Townes

<html> <head> <title>Charles H. 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Townes<img src="charles-townes-1.jpg" height=290 width=219 align=right hspace=10 vspace=10 alt="Charles H. Townes">AKA Charles Hard TownesBorn: <a href="/lists/727/000106409/" class=proflink>28-Jul</a>-<a href="/lists/914/000105599/" class=proflink>1915</a> Birthplace: <a href="/geo/525/000069318/" class=proflink>Greenville, SC</a> Died: <a href="/lists/910/000106592/" class=proflink>27-Jan</a>-<a href="/lists/085/000387918/" class=proflink>2015</a> Location of death: <a href="/geo/422/000069215/" class=proflink>Berkeley, CA</a> Cause of death: unspecified Gender: Male Race or Ethnicity: White Sexual orientation: Straight Occupation: <a href="/lists/629/000096341/" class=proflink>Physicist</a>Nationality: United States Executive summary: Invention of the maser and laserMicrowave physicist Charles H. Townes conceived of the maser (an acronym for microwave amplification by stimulated emission of radiation) in 1951, and designed and tested the first maser two years later. He said later that the idea of converting molecular vibrations into radiation came to him out of the blue as he was sitting on a bench in a public park. With his brother-in-law, physicist <a href="/people/954/000099657/">Arthur L. Schawlow</a>, he began working on the laser (also an acronym, for light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation) in 1957, and formally proposed that the principles of the maser could be expanded into the optical realm with lasers. In 1960 Townes and Schawlow obtained a patent for the laser and explained their idea in an article in Physics Review, which inspired a reader of the journal, <a href="/people/523/000241797/">Theodore Maiman</a>, to build the first working laser. In 1964 Townes won the Nobel Prize for Physics, shared with <a href="/people/850/000099553/">Nikolay G. Basov</a> and <a href="/people/851/000099554/">Aleksandr M. Prokhorov</a> of the Soviet Union, who conducted similar work independently. Townes was also known for his work on the Autler-Townes effect, Brillouin scattering, and self-trapping of light. He retired in 1986, but continued to maintain an office at the graduate school in astrophysics at the University of California at Berkeley until his death in 2015.Father: Henry Keith Townes (attorney) Mother: Ellen Hard Townes Sister: Aurelia Townes Schawlow (m. <a href="/people/954/000099657/">Arthur L. Schawlow</a>) Wife: Frances H. Brown Townes (b. 1916, m. 1941) Daughter: Linda Townes Rosenwein Daughter: Ellen Townes Anderson Daughter: Carla Townes Lumsden Daughter: Holly Townes     High School: Greenville High School, Greenville, SC (1932)     University: <a href="/edu/827/000068623/">BA Modern Languages, Furman University (1935)</a>     University: <a href="/edu/827/000068623/">BS Physics, Furman University (1935)</a>     University: <a href="/edu/510/000068306/">MA Physics, Duke University (1937)</a>     University: <a href="/edu/584/000082338/">PhD Physics, California Institute of Technology (1939)</a>     Professor: <a href="/edu/477/000068273/">Physics, Columbia University (1947-50)</a>     Administrator: <a href="/edu/477/000068273/">Radiation Laboratory, Columbia University (1950-52)</a>     Professor: <a href="/edu/477/000068273/">Physics, Columbia University (1950-61)</a>     Professor: <a href="/edu/487/000068283/">Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1961-66)</a>     Administrator: <a href="/edu/487/000068283/">Provost, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1961-66)</a>     Professor: <a href="/edu/487/000068283/">Institute Prof. of Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1966-67)</a>     Professor: <a href="/edu/470/000068266/">University Professor, University of California at Berkeley (1967-86)</a>     Fellow: <a href="/edu/063/000125685/">Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution</a>     <a href="/company/927/000099630/">Bell Laboratories</a> Research & Development (1933-47)     <a href="/honors/485/000032389/">Guggenheim Fellowship</a> 1955-56     NAS Cyrus B. Comstock Prize in Physics 1958     Franklin Institute Stuart Ballantine Medal 1959, 1962     <a href="/org/779/000107458/">Institute for Defense Analyses</a> Vice President, 1959-61     NAS John J. Carty Award 1961     <a href="/honors/429/000072213/">Rumford Prize</a> 1961     Thomas Young Medal of the Optical Society 1963     <a href="/honors/201/000067997/">Nobel Prize for Physics</a> 1964 (with <a href="/people/851/000099554/">Aleksandr M. Prokhorov</a>, <a href="/people/850/000099553/">Nikolay G. Basov</a>)     <a href="/honors/958/000109631/">IEEE Medal of Honor</a> 1967     Mees Medal of the Optical Society 1968     <a href="/honors/032/000111696/">National Inventors Hall of Fame</a> 1976     APS Plyler Prize for Molecular Spectroscopy 1977     <a href="/honors/163/000166662/">South Carolina Hall of Fame</a> 1978     <a href="/honors/636/000042510/">National Medal of Science</a> 1982     <a href="/honors/139/000048992/">French Legion of Honor</a> 1990     NAE Founders Award 2000     Mikhail Lomonosov Gold Medal 2000     <a href="/honors/282/000099982/">Templeton Prize</a> 2005     <a href="/honors/278/000099978/">Vannevar Bush Award</a> 2006 (with Raj Reddy)     <a href="/org/811/000055646/">American Academy of Arts and Sciences</a>     <a href="/org/866/000117515/">American Astronomical Society</a>     <a href="/org/640/000052484/">American Philosophical Society</a>     <a href="/org/496/000071283/">American Physical Society</a>     <a href="/org/525/000163036/">Atlas Economic Research Foundation</a> Templeton Freedom Awards Advisory Council     <a href="/org/290/000161804/">Federation of American Scientists</a>     <a href="/org/603/000052447/">IEEE</a>     <a href="/org/945/000162459/">JASON</a>     <a href="/org/062/000116711/">National Academy of Engineering</a> 1998     <a href="/org/692/000054530/">National Academy of Sciences</a> 1956     <a href="/org/359/000122990/">New York Academy of Sciences</a>     <a href="/org/116/000116765/">Optical Society of America</a>     Max Planck Society for the Advancement of Science Foreign Member     <a href="/org/212/000165714/">Pontifical Academy of Sciences</a>     <a href="/org/793/000055628/">Royal Society</a> Foreign Member     <a href="/org/858/000099561/">Russian Academy of Sciences</a> Foreign Member     <a href="/org/457/000041334/">Sigma Xi Scientific Research Society</a>     Member of the Board of <a href="/company/018/000046877/">General Motors</a> Official Website: <a href="http://www.physics.berkeley.edu/research/faculty/Townes.html" target=_blank>http://www.physics.berkeley.edu/research/faculty/Townes.html</a> Author of books: Microwave Spectroscopy (<tt>1955</tt>, physics; with <a href="/people/954/000099657/">Arthur L. Schawlow</a>) Making Waves (<tt>1994</tt>, memoir) How the Laser Happened: Adventures of a Scientist (<tt>2002</tt>, memoir) <table> <tr> <td align=right valign=middle style="padding-right: 5px;">New! <a href="http://mapper.nndb.com/" class="fotmlink" style="font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; color: #dd0000;">NNDB MAPPER</a></td> <td valign=middle align=right style="border-left: 1px solid #bbb; padding-left: 5px;">Create a map starting with</td> <td valign=middle align=right><a href="http://mapper.nndb.com/start/?id=99552"><img src="/man.gif" border=0 style="padding: 2px;"></a></td> <td align=left valign=middle> <a href="http://mapper.nndb.com/start/?id=99552">Charles H. Townes</a></td> </tr> </table> Requires Flash 7+ and Javascript. 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Charles H. Townes