We celebrate today, the 99th birthday of Dr. Charles Hard Townes, inventor of the concept of the laser, for whom our Townes Laser Institute is named after. Dr Townes, one of the most influential scientists of the past century, was awarded the 1964 Nobel Prize in Physics, together with Aleksandr Prokhorov and Nikolai Basov. Prokhorov passed away in 2002, aged 86, Basov in 2001 at the age of 80. The General Physics Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences is now named after Prokhorov. The Townes Laser Institute at UCF was created May 6, 2007 at UCF, with Dr Townes present. He gave the commencement address in Spring 2007 and was also awarded an honorary degree by President Hitt. Dr Townes last visited UCF for the CREOL@25 celebration in 2012 . Both Dr Townes and his wife Frances (she turned 98 years this past February ) are in good health. As he proclaims to everyone, he has never worked, he just enjoys science, and still goes to his office at the University of California, Berkeley most weekdays.
Posted Monday, July 28, 2014
