More on Lasers
Laser History on the Web
The 1964 Physics Nobel Prize including lectures by Townes, Basov and Prokhorov
Oral history interview transcripts
Lasers on the Web
Detailed description of how masers/lasers work (high-school level)
A quick description of the ruby laser
Some applications of lasers — American Institute of Physics' "DBIS" videos:1. Diagnosing Heartburn (image of a laser on the end of a fiber obtic cable)
2. New Combat Helmet (Military images)
3. Mars to Bars (Uses laser use in space mission to study wine)
4. Robo Dog to the Rescue (Robot responds to laser pointer commands)
5. Reducing Your Lead Footprint (uses a laser to create the new lead-free material)
More History of Physics on the Web
Moments of Discovery: fission, an optical pulsar, superconductor theory
More exhibits from the Center for History of Physics
AIP History Center's links page
Laser History in Print
Bromberg, Joan Lisa. The Laser in America, 1950–1970. Cambridge: MIT Press, 1991.
Hecht, Jeff. Beam: The Race to Make the Laser. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005.
Hecht, Jeff. Laser Pioneers. Boston: Academic Press, 1992.
Taylor, Nick. Laser: The Inventor, the Nobel Laureate, and the Thirty Year Patent War. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2000.
Townes, Charles H. How the Laser Happened: Adventures of a Scientist. New York: Oxford, 1999.
Maiman, Theodore H. The Laser Odyssey. Blaine, WA: Laser Press, 2000.
Laser History in Print — for Advanced Students
Bertolotti, Mario. The History of the Laser, trans. Bollati Boringhieri. Philadelphia: Institute of Physics, 2005.
Forman, Paul. "Inventing the Maser in Postwar America," Osiris, 2nd ser:7 (1992), pp. 105-134.
Myers, Robert A., and Richard W. Dixon. "Who Invented the Laser: An Analysis of Early Patents," Historical Studies in the Physical and Biological Sciences 34 (2003), pp. 115-149.
Seidel, Robert W. "From Glow to Flow: A History of Military Laser Research and Development," Historical Studies in the Physical and Biological Sciences 18 (1987), pp. 111-147.