Charles Townes, Nobel winner for co-inventing laser, dies aged 99

Townes shared the 1964 Nobel Prize in physics with Russian physicists Aleksandr M. Prokhorov and Nicolai G. Basov.

Charles H. Townes’ inspiration for the predecessor of the laser came to him while sitting on a park bench, waiting for a restaurant to open for breakfast.

On the tranquil morning hours of April 26, 1951, Townes scribbled a theory on scrap paper that would lead to the laser, the invention he’s known for and which transformed everyday life and led to other scientific discoveries.

Townes, who was also known for his strong religious faith, famously compared that moment to a religious revelation.

The 99-year-old Nobel Prize-winning physicist died on Thursday.

In 1954, his theory was realised when Townes and his students developed the laser’s predecessor, the maser (microwave amplification by stimulated emission of radiation).

“I realised there would be many applications for the laser,” Townes told Esquire magazine in 2001, “but it never occurred to me we’d get such power from it.”

The laser paved the way for other scientific discoveries that revolutionize everything from medicine to manufacturing, including DVD players, gun sights, printers, computer networks, metal cutters, tattoo removal and vision correction.

“Charlie Townes had an enormous impact on physics and society in general,” Steven Boggs, the chairman of the physics department at Berkeley, said Wednesday.

Townes shared the 1964 Nobel Prize in physics with Russian physicists Aleksandr M. Prokhorov and Nicolai G. Basov.

A devoted member of the United Church of Christ, Townes drew praise and scepticism later in his career with speeches and essays investigating the similarities between science and religion.

“Science tries to understand what our universe is like and how it works, including us humans,” Townes wrote in 2005 upon being awarded the Templeton Prize worth more than $1.5 million for his contributions in “affirming life’s spiritual dimension.”

“My own view is that, while science and religion may seem different, they have many similarities, and should interact and enlighten each other,” he wrote.

Born on July 28, 1915, in Greenville, South Carolina, Townes found his calling during his sophomore year at Furman University and went on to earn a master’s degree from Duke University in physics and a doctorate at the California Institute of Technology.

Demonstrating that masers could be made to operate in optical and infrared capacities, Townes and his brother-in-law, the late Stanford professor Arthur L. Schawlow, jointly published a theory in 1958 on the feasibility of optical and infrared masers, or lasers.

A laser controls the way that energised atoms release photons, or light particles.

“I feel that very rarely have I done any work in my life,” he told Esquire. “I have a good time. I’m exploring. I’m playing a game, solving puzzles, and having fun, and for some reason people have been willing to pay me for it.”

Townes is survived by his wife and four daughters, Linda Rosenwein, Ellen Townes-Anderson, Carla Kessler, and Holly Townes.