Can I read Beam : The Race to Make the Laser on EtoBox?

Beam : The Race to Make the Laser by Jeff Hecht is a book available to read on EtoBox.

What is Beam : The Race to Make the Laser about?

Beam is the story of the race to make the laser, the three intense years from the birth of the laser idea to its breakthrough demonstration in a California laboratory. The quest was a struggle against physics, established wisdom, and the establishment itself. In 1954, Charles Townes invented the laser's microwave cousin, the maser. The next logical step was to extend the same physical principles to the shorter wavelengths of light, but the idea did not catch fire until October 1957, when Townes asked Gordon Gould about Gould's research on using light to excite thallium atoms. Each took the idea and ran with it. The independent-minded Gould sought the fortune of an independent inventor; the professorial Townes sought the fame of scientific recognition. Townes enlisted the help of his brother-in-law, Arthur Schawlow, and got Bell Labs into the race. Gould turned his ideas into a patent borth ation and a million-dollar defense contract. They soon had company. Ali Javan, one of Townes's former students, began pulling 90-hour weeks at Bell Labs with colleague Bill Bennett. And far away in California a bright young physicist named Ted Maiman became a very dark horse in the race. While Sc

Author

Jeff Hecht

Publisher

Oxford University Press, USA; Oxford University Press

Published

2005

Language

EN

ISBN

9780199738717

Subjects

Science, History, Engineering

Rating

3.85 / 5 (12 ratings)

Updated

2026-03-13