Voting Station

Charles Townes

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Scientist

The Resume

    (July 28, 1915-January 27, 2015)
    Born in Greenville, South Carolina
    Chair of the Physics Department at Columbia University (1952-55)
    Chaired NASA's Science Advisory Committee (1969-70)
    With James P. Gordon and H.J. Zeiger, designed and built the first maser (microwave amplification by stimulated emission of radiation)
    With Arthur Schawlow, Gordon Gould and Theodore Maiman, developed the maser into the more familiar laser (light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation)
    Received patents for the maser (1953) and laser (1959)
    Headed a team of astronomer that found a massive black hole at the center of the Milky Way galaxy (1985)
    Co-recipient (with two Russian scientists who had done independent research into the principles behind the maser) of the Nobel Prize in Physics (1964)

Why he might be annoying:

    He decided to go into experimental physics rather than theoretical physics because he figured it would require less reading and he had been suffering from eye strain.
    Fellow Nobel Laureate I.I. Rabi, whose research budget came from the same source as Townes', told him about the maser experiments, 'You know it's not going to work, we know it's not going to work. You're wasting money.'
    The term maser turned out to be a misnomer, since they emit waves across a broader band of the electromagnetic spectrum than just microwave frequencies.
    He and Schawlow were successfully sued by Gordon Gould, their former graduate student, who won a share of the laser patent (1977).

Why he might not be annoying:

    He graduated from Furman University at age 19 as valedictorian with two bachelor's degrees.
    He was married to Frances Brown for 73 years.
    The laser he pioneered transformed communications, medicine, astronomy and daily life.
    He noted about the many applications of the laser, 'I didn't imagine most of them myself, and continue to be amazed by the offspring of the maser.'

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    In 2023, Out of 3 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 9 Votes: 55.56% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 10 Votes: 70.0% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 2 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 5 Votes: 60.0% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 3 Votes: 66.67% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 14 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 8 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2015, Out of 163 Votes: 58.28% Annoying