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Science & Medicine

Samuel Blum

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Who

Samuel Blum · Science & Medicine

What

Co-invented the ultraviolet excimer laser (IBM, 1981), the basis of LASIK eye surgery; National Inventors Hall of Fame.

When

1920, New York City, United States — 2013, United States

Where

United States (IBM T. J. Watson Research Center, New York)

Biography

Samuel Blum is recognized among Jewish contributors to Science & Medicine — Co-invented the ultraviolet excimer laser (IBM, 1981), the basis of LASIK eye surgery; National Inventors Hall of Fame.

How & why

Samuel E. Blum was an American chemist who, with Rangaswamy Srinivasan and James Wynne at IBM in 1981, discovered that the ultraviolet excimer laser could remove biological tissue cleanly without heat damage—the principle behind LASIK vision-correction surgery. For this work he received the U.S. National Medal of Technology and was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame. He was Jewish, the son of a Jewish family in New York.

Sources & external links

Verify and go deeper with these external references.

Source: geni.com Jewish Inventors project

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Contributions & Sources

Co-invented the ultraviolet excimer laser (IBM, 1981), the basis of LASIK eye surgery; National Inventors Hall of Fame.

1981

Source: geni.com Jewish Inventors project