Charles Townes
- Born: July 28, 1915 (Greenville, South Carolina)
Education
- 1935: BA and BS, Furman University
- 1937: MA, Duke University
- 1939: PhD, California Institute of Technology (Physics)
Major Positions
- 1939–1947: Bell Laboratories, Member, Technical Staff
- 1948–1950: Columbia University, Associate Professor of Physics
- 1950–1961: Columbia University, Professor of Physics
- 1959–1961: Institute for Defense Analyses, Vice President and Director of Research
- 1961–1966: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Provost and Professor of Physics
- 1966–1967: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Institute Professor
- 1967–1986: University of California, Berkeley, University Professor
- 1986–present: University of California, Berkeley, University Professor Emeritus
Other Positions
- 1950–1952: Columbia University, Executive Director, Columbia Radiation Laboratory
- 1952–1955: Columbia University, Chair, Department of Physics
- 1955–1956: University of Paris, Fulbright Lecturer and Guggenheim Fellow
- 1956–1956: University of Tokyo, Fulbright Lecturer and Guggenheim Fellow
- 1963–1963: Enrico Fermi International School of Physics, Session Director
- 1966–1970: President's Science Advisory Committee (PSAC), Member
- 1967–1967: American Physical Society, President
Selected Part-Time Positions
- 1958–1961: Member, Scientific Advisory Board, United States Air Force
- 1959–1962: Member, Council, American Physical Society
- 1960–1963: Member, Panel on Strategic Weapons, President's Science Advisory Committee (PSAC)
- 1963–1968: Member, Board of Trustees, Salk Institute for Biologicl Studies
- 1964–1979: Chair, Science and Technology Advisory Committee for Manned Space Flight, National Aeronautics and Space Administration
- 1965–1970: Member, Advisory Committee, RAND Corporation
- 1966–1970: Member, Panel on Strategic Weapons, President's Science Advisory Committee (PSAC)
- 1966–1970: Chair, Science Advisory Committee, Apollo Lunar Landing Program, National Aeronautics and Space Administration
- 1966–1985: Member, Board of Directors, Perkin-Elmer Corporation
- 1969–1972: Member, Council, National Academy of Sciences
- 1970–1973: Chair, Space Science Board, National Academy of Sciences
- 1971–1973: Member, Chair, Science Advisory Committee, General Motors Company
- 1971–1977: Member, Space Program Advisory Council, National Aeronautics and Space Administration
- 1971–1988: Member, Board of Trustees, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute
- 1973–1978: Member, Board of Directors, General Motors Company
- 1976–1977: Member, President's Committee on Science and Technology
- 1978–1981: Member, Council, National Academy of Sciences
- 1978–1986: Member, Board of Trustees, General Motors Cancer Research Foundation
- 1979–1984: Member, Advisory Committee, California Institute of Technology
- 1980–1989: Chair, Committee on International Security and Arms Control, National Academy of Sciences
- 1982–1986: Member, Defense Science Board, United States Department of Defense
- 1987–1990: Member, Board of Directors, Astronomical Society of the Pacific
Selected Awards and Honors
- 1956: National Academy of Sciences, Member
- 1964: Nobel Prize in Physics
- 1977: American Physical Society, Earle K. Plyler Prize for Molecular Spectroscopy
- 1982: National Medal of Science
Archival Resources
Library of Congress, Manuscript Division, Washington, DC
Oral History Interviews
- 1979: American Institute of Physics, Niels Bohr Library and Archives
- 1984: Available Online
- 1987: Available Online
- 1991: Available Online
- 1991: Available Online
- 1992: Available Online
Resources on the Web
Published Resources
Joan Lisa Bromberg, The Laser in America, 1950-1970 (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1991)
Charles H. Townes, Making Waves (Woodbury, NY: American Institute of Physics, 1995)
Charles H. Townes, How the Laser Happened: Adventures of a Scientist (New York: Oxford University Press, 2002)
Jeff Hecht, Beam: The Race to Make the Laser (New York: Oxford University Press, 2005)
Lasers & Applications, "Charles H. Townes: Infrared and Optical Masers," in Laser Pioneer Interviews (Torrance, CA: High Tech Publications: 1985), 35-47
Joan Lisa Bromberg, "The Birth of the Laser," Physics Today 41 (1988): 26-33
Paul Forman, "Inventing the Maser in Postwar America," Osiris 7 (1992): 105-134
