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May
16, 1960, the laser was born. The world would never be the same.
Scientific
innovation rarely captivates the
mind
and imagination like the laser does. Its continual expansion of the
boundaries
of science, medicine, industry, and entertainment has resulted in
fiber-optic
communication, CDs, CD-ROM’s, and DVD’s. Without the laser, millions would
be blind who now see. There would be no smart bombs, supermarket bar code
readers, certain life-saving
cancer
treatments, or precise navigation techniques for commercial aircraft. New
and
popular procedures that enable one to dump eyeglasses, remove unsightly
moles,
wrinkles, and tattoos, and even streamline bikini lines, would have never
come
to be.
Unbelievably,
the laser, considered to be one of the top ten technological achievements of
the
twentieth century and now ubiquitous, was initially perceived as, “a
solution
looking for a problem”.
The laser’s genesis has been historically misunderstood. In The Laser Odyssey, Dr. Theodore Maiman, creator of the first laser, reveals how and why the laser really came about. Maiman, a Japan Prize Laureate and National Inventor’s Hall of Fame inductee (in company with Alexander Graham Bell, Thomas Edison, and the Wright Brothers) exposes common myths about the laser’s creation.
Beginning with tales from childhood and early work experiences, Maiman recounts the course of his education up to his days in the Stanford Physics “Basement” where he worked on his doctoral thesis under Nobel Laureate Willis Lamb.
Dr. Maiman takes readers through the sociological, technological, and political obstacles that challenged and inspired him in the development of the laser. He describes the response of a startled scientific community when he produced the first man-made coherent light using a design approach that had been scoffed at, condemned, and discarded by acclaimed scientists in the field.
In The Laser Odyssey, Maiman uses colorful analogies to explain just how a laser works and interweaves the laser motif with revealing anecdotes and adventures. A meeting with actress Bette Davis who held the misimpression of the laser as a “death ray”; a private audience with Emperor Hirohito of Japan; and a terrorist kidnapping attempt on his life in Argentina, are a few of many fascinating sketches of the life led by this maverick scientist.
The Laser Odyssey will appeal to many, from the general reader who will easily absorb the essential qualities of laser technology to the sophisticated science buff.
The
book
is a rare unmasking of real world
science.
Published by Laser Press
ISBN: 0-9702927-0-8
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