Jump to content

Charles H. Townes

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 76.119.236.49 (talk) at 06:35, 7 January 2013. The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Charles Hard Townes
Born (1915-07-28) July 28, 1915 (age 109)
Greenville South Carolina
NationalityUnited States
Alma materFurman University (B.S. & B.A.)
Duke University (M.A.)
Caltech (Ph.D.)
Known forInventing the Maser
AwardsNobel Prize in Physics (1964)
Templeton Prize (2005)
Scientific career
FieldsPhysics
InstitutionsBerkeley
Bell Labs
Institute for Defense Analyses
Columbia
MIT
University Of Michigan
Doctoral advisorWilliam Smythe[disambiguation needed]
Doctoral studentsAli Javan
James P. Gordon
Robert Boyd
Raymond Y. Chiao

Charles Hard Townes (born July 28, 1915) is an American Nobel Prize-winning physicist and educator. Townes is known for his work on the theory and application of the maser, on which he got the fundamental patent, and other work in quantum electronics connected with both maser and laser devices. He shared the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1964 with Nikolay Basov and Alexander Prokhorov. The Japanese FM Towns computer and game console is named in his honour.

Research

Charlie Townes was the lead researcher in the construction of the Infrared Spatial Interferometer, the first astronomical interferometer to operate in the mid-infrared. He continues researching into astrophysics and astronomy at the University of California, Berkeley. With Arthur Leonard Schawlow, he wrote the book Microwave Spectroscopy, published in 1955.

During his time at Bell Labs Townes was asked to help with the development of a new radar system for aircraft in World War II. He never served in the military, but felt he was helping his country from within the lab. Townes and his team were successful in creating more accurate and precise radar systems, but none of them were ever mass produced by the military. Some of the new systems developed were used as prototypes in early B-52 bombers. After the war, Townes continued to work at Bell Labs, creating new radar by experimenting with different radio wavelengths.

Moving from Bell Labs in 1948, to the physics department of Columbia University allowed Townes to return to experimental physics and away from the applications of physics. At Columbia, his research was still partially funded by the US Navy’s desire for even smaller radar. At Bell Labs Townes helped develop a radar system with a 1.25 centimeter wavelength. After moving to Columbia, the military wanted radar systems with wavelengths only a few millimeters. The shortening of the wavelength led Townes and his colleagues to focus on microwave research. In 1951, the idea of the maser was proposed to Townes' superiors. After three years and many experiments, Townes and Jim Gordon created a working maser.

Theorists like Niels Bohr and John von Neumann doubted that it was possible to create such a thing as a maser.[1] Nobel laurates Isidor Isaac Rabi and Polykarp Kusch received the budget for their research from the same source as Townes; three months before the first successful experiment they tried to stop him: "Look, you should stop the work you are doing. It isn't going to work. You know it's not going to work, we know it's not going to work, we know it's not going to work. You're wasting money, Just stop!".[2]

Science and religion

A member of the United Church of Christ, Townes considers that "science and religion [are] quite parallel, much more similar than most people think and that in the long run, they must converge".[3] In 2005, he was awarded the Templeton Prize for "Progress Toward Research or Discoveries about Spiritual Realities." Townes is the only figure other than Mother Teresa and the Dalai Lama to win both a Templeton Prize and a Nobel Prize.

Awards

Townes (right) receiving the 2006 Vannevar Bush Award

Townes has been widely recognized for his scientific work and leadership.

Representation

  • Between 1966 and 1970 he was chairman of the NASA Science Advisory Committee for the Apollo lunar landing program.

Bibliography

  • M. Bertolotti, History of the Laser, Taylor and Francis, 2004.
  • J.L. Bromberg, The Laser in America, 1950–1970, MIT Press, 1991.
  • R.Y. Chiao, Amazing Light : A Volume Dedicated To Charles Hard Townes On His 80th Birthday, Springer, 1996.
  • J. Hecht, Beam: The Race to Make the Laser, Oxford University Press, 2005.
  • J. Hecht, Laser Pioneers, Academic Press, 1991.
  • N. Taylor, Laser: The Inventor, the Nobel Laureate, and the Thirty-Year Patent War, Citadel, 2003.
  • A.L. Schawlow and C.H. Townes, "Infrared and Optical Masers," Phys. Rev. 112, 1940 (1958).
  • C.H. Townes, Making Waves, AIP Press, 1995.
  • C.H. Townes, How the Laser Happened: Adventures of a Scientist, Oxford University Press, 2000.
  • C.H. Townes and A.L. Schawlow, Microwave Spectroscopy, McGraw-Hill, 1955.
  • F. Townes, Misadventures of a Scientist's Wife, Regent Press, 2007.

See also

References

  1. ^ "Charles H. Townes: The Light Fantastic", Businessweek, August 1, 2004
  2. ^ Heinrich Hora; Edward Teller; George Hunter Miley (1 June 2005), Edward Teller Lectures: Lasers And Inertial Fusion Energy, Imperial College Press, pp. 3–4, ISBN 978-1-86094-468-0, retrieved 27 December 2012
  3. ^ Harvard Gazette June 16, 2005 Laser's inventor predicts meeting of science, religion
  4. ^ "Book of Members, 1780–2010: Chapter T" (PDF). American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Retrieved 7 April 2011.
  5. ^ "Comstock Prize in Physics". National Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 13 February 2011.
  6. ^ "John J. Carty Award for the Advancement of Science". National Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 13 February 2011.

Template:Persondata

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/enwiki/w/index.php?title=Charles_H._Townes&oldid=531745766"