Theodore Maiman

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Theodore Harold Maiman (born July 11, 1927 in Los Angeles , California - † May 5, 2007 in Vancouver ) was an American physicist . In 1960 he developed the first functional laser .

life and work

Maiman was the son of electrical engineer Abraham Maiman who worked for AT&T . The father was an inventor who, among other things, also improved the stethoscope . Maiman sr. would have liked to see his son become a doctor, but he decided on physics.

He studied engineering first at the University of Colorado and then at Stanford University , where he received his doctorate in physics in 1955. Nevertheless, he was not interested in an academic career, but rather in basic research. So he first worked for Hughes Research Laboratories , a California aviation manufacturer owned by eccentric billionaire Howard Hughes . The company was then a hotbed of innovation that owed its productivity to military contracts and a staff of exceptional scientists. For example, Richard Feynman from Caltech was invited to Hughes Research to hold seminars. Maiman first developed a miniaturized version of the measles , a forerunner of the laser, and then wanted to concentrate light instead of microwaves . Due to discouraging reports from other research institutes, his superiors forbade him from further laser research. However, his threat of dismissal and the private continued work on the laser caused a relent and he was granted a budget of 50,000 US dollars and an assistant for nine months.

On May 16, 1960, with his assistant Charles Asawa, he developed the first working laser , a ruby laser . He first submitted a description of his device to Physical Review Letters , which, however, refused to publish his manuscript. The equally high-ranking journal Nature accepted the manuscript and published it in August 1960, with the result that Maiman's invention was quickly reproduced in many variations by other researchers. However, since Hughes was still inadequate in supporting the development of the laser, Maiman left Hughes Research Laboratories and founded his own company, Korad Corporation , in 1962 . Hughes' reluctance, which today hardly seems comprehensible, was due to the fact that many researchers at the time were unable to identify any practical application for lasers at first. Maiman himself described the laser as “a solution that seeks a problem”. He received the US patent for his work on November 14, 1967.

After his invention, Maiman worked in the field of nonlinear optics and founded other companies that dealt with the development of lasers and their applications.

He received many honors for his laser research. So he was u. a. Member of the National Academy of Sciences in 1980 and inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 1984. On the return flight from this award, he met his second wife, Kathleen.

Maiman now benefited from his invention himself, as he underwent laser surgery in Munich in 2000 . Theodore Maiman died of systemic mastocytosis , a rare, genetic skin disease.

Awards

literature

  • Theodore Maiman: The Laser Inventor. Memoirs of Theodore H. Maiman , Springer 2018
  • Theodore H. Maiman: Stimulated optical radiation in ruby. Nature , Volume 187 of August 6, 1960, pp. 493-494 (the first publication on building a working laser)
  • Theodore H. Maiman: The laser odyssey. Laser Press, Blaine (Washington) 2000, 216 pp., Ill., ISBN 0-9702927-0-8 (autobiography)
  • Charles H. Townes : Theodore H. Maiman (1927-2007). Maker of the first laser. Nature , Volume 447, June 7, 2007, p. 654 (obituary)

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ FK Kneubühl, MW Sigrist: Laser . Teubner, 1991 3rd edition p. 4
  2. ^ TH Maiman: Stimulated Optical Radiation in Ruby . In: Nature . 187 4736, 1960, pp. 493-494.
  3. ^ "A laser is a solution seeking a problem." , quoted from Theodore Maiman, who built the first laser, dies at 79 , International Herald Tribune , May 13, 2007
  4. ↑ US patent number 3,353,115 for Theodore Maiman's ruby ​​laser, accessed on November 13, 2011
  5. ^ Douglas Martin: Theodore Maiman, who built the first laser, dies at 79. In: New York Times. May 13, 2007, accessed November 6, 2018 .
personal data
SURNAME Maiman, Theodore
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Maiman, Theodore Harold; Maiman, Ted
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American physicist
DATE OF BIRTH July 11, 1927
PLACE OF BIRTH Los Angeles , California
DATE OF DEATH May 5, 2007
Place of death Vancouver