Donald Richard Herriott

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Donald Richard Herriott (born February 4, 1928 in Rochester , New York - † November 8, 2007 ) was an American physicist. In 1960 he was one of the inventors of the gas laser .

His parents were William and Lois (Denton) Herriott. After serving in the US Navy , he studied physics at Duke University and later optics at the University of Rochester . During this time he worked at Bausch & Lomb. He married Karis Smith, with whom he has three daughters and one son. In 1956 he joined Bell Labs as a troubleshooter and consultant for optics . In 1960, together with his colleagues Ali Javan and William R. Bennett , he invented the first CW laser , a helium-neon laser , for which he received the Outstanding Patent Award in 1977.

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