TM
Science & Medicine

Theodore Maiman

Who

Theodore Maiman · Science & Medicine

What

Physicist; built the first working laser

When

1927, Los Angeles, California, United States — 2007, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Where

United States (Hughes Research Laboratories, California)

Biography

Theodore Maiman is recognized among Jewish contributors to Science & Medicine — Physicist; built the first working laser

How & why

Maiman, a physicist and engineer, built and fired the first working laser on 16 May 1960 at Hughes Research Laboratories, using a synthetic ruby crystal to produce a coherent pulse of red light after many had thought a solid-state laser impractical. The invention seeded technologies from fibre-optic communications and barcode scanners to surgery and manufacturing. Maiman came from a Jewish family and said he was a descendant of the medieval sage Maimonides.

Sources & external links

Verify and go deeper with these external references.

Source: Jinfo.org — Jews in Physics

Contributions & Sources

Physicist; built the first working laser

1927

Source: Jinfo.org — Jews in Physics