Theodore Maiman

Theodore Harold Maiman (July 11, 1927 – May 5, 2007) was an American engineer and physicist who is
widely credited with the invention of the laser.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7] Maiman's laser led to the subsequent Theodore Maiman
development of many other types of lasers.[8][9] The laser was successfully fired on May 16, 1960. In a July 7,
1960 press conference in Manhattan,[10] Maiman and his employer, Hughes Aircraft Company, announced the
laser to the world.[11] Maiman was granted a patent for his invention,[12] and he received many awards and
honors for his work. His experiences in developing the first laser and subsequent related events are described in
his book, The Laser Odyssey.[13]

Contents
Life and career
Awards and recognition
Death
See also
References Maiman in 69
External links Born Theodore Harold
Maiman
July 11, 1927
Life and career Los Angeles,
California, U.S.
Maiman was born in Los Angeles to Abraham "Abe" Maiman, an electrical engineer[10] and inventor, and Rose
Died May 5, 2007
Abramson. At a young age his family moved to Denver, Colorado, where he helped his father with
(aged 79)
experimentation in a home electronics laboratory. In his teens Maiman earned money by repairing electric
Vancouver, British
appliances and radios,[14] and after leaving high school was employed as a junior engineer with the National
Union Radio Company at age 17.[15] Columbia, Canada
Citizenship United States
Alma mater University of Colorado
 Following a year's service in the United States Navy at the end of World War Boulder
II,[16] he earned a B.S. in engineering physics from the University of Stanford University
Colorado Boulder. Maiman then went on to graduate studies at Stanford Known for Inventing the laser
University where he earned an M.S. in electrical engineering in 1951 and a
Ph.D. in physics in 1955. Awards Stuart Ballantine
Medal (1962)
His doctoral thesis in experimental physics, under the direction of physicist Oliver E. Buckley
Willis Lamb,[10] involved detailed microwave-optical measurements of fine Condensed Matter
structural splittings in excited helium atoms. He also devised laboratory Prize (1966)
instrumentation for Lamb's experiments. Maiman published two articles
Wolf Prize in Physics
jointly with Lamb in Physical Review, the second of which was based on his
own thesis research.[17][18] His thesis experiment was instrumental in his
(1983)

development of the laser.[13]:34 Japan Prize (1987)

Scientific career
In 1956 Maiman started work with the Atomic Physics Department of the
Hughes Aircraft Company (later Hughes Research Laboratories or HRL Fields Physics, electrical
Laboratories) in California where he led the ruby maser redesign project for engineering
Maiman with his laser in July 1960.
the U.S. Army Signal Corps, reducing it from a 2.5-ton cryogenic device to 4 Institutions Hughes Research
pounds (1.8 kg) while improving its performance.[5]:88[19] As a result of this Laboratories
success Maiman persuaded Hughes management to use company funds to support his laser project beginning in Quantatron
mid-1959. On a total budget of $50,000, Maiman turned to the development of a laser based on his own design Korad Corporation
with a synthetic ruby crystal, which other scientists seeking to make a laser felt would not work.[20][21][22]
Doctoral Willis Lamb
On May 16, 1960, at Hughes' Malibu, California, laboratories, Maiman's solid-state pink ruby laser emitted advisor
mankind's first coherent light, with rays all the same wavelength and fully in phase.[14] Maiman documented his
invention in Nature[10][15][23] and published other scholarly articles describing the science and technology underlying his laser.[24][23][25][26]

Maiman had begun conceptualizing a solid-state laser design even before he undertook the maser project at Hughes.[5]:45[13]:45 Moving the
microwave frequency of masers up the electromagnetic spectrum 50,000-fold to the frequency of light would require finding a feasible lasing
medium and excitation source and designing the system.[5]:34–37[27] Other major research groups at IBM, Bell Labs, MIT, Westinghouse, RCA and
Columbia University, among others, were also pursuing projects to develop a laser.[5]:7[13]:45

Their work was stimulated by a 1958 paper by Arthur L. Schawlow and Charles H. Townes offering theoretical analysis and a proposal for a gaseous
system using potassium vapor excited by a potassium lamp.[3]:216[5]:92[28] However, Maiman identified multiple flaws in the Schawlow-Townes
proposal and pursued his own solid-state design.[5]:111[13]:151–156[29] His successful design utilized synthetic pink ruby crystal as the active laser
medium and a helical xenon flash lamp as the excitation source.[3]:226–234[5]:170–182[30] As Townes later wrote, "Maiman's laser had several aspects
not considered in our theoretical paper, nor discussed by others before the ruby demonstration."[4]:108
Following his invention of the laser, in 1961 Maiman and seven colleagues departed Hughes to join the newly formed Quantatron company, which
grew in-house ruby crystals for lasers. In 1962 Maiman founded and became the president of the Korad Corporation, which manufactured high-
power ruby lasers.[10][16] After Korad was fully acquired by Union Carbide in 1968,[14] Maiman left to found Maiman Associates, a venture capital
firm. In 1971 Maiman founded the Laser Video Corporation, and from 1976 to 1983 he worked as vice president for advanced technology at TRW
Electronics (now Northrop Grumman).[3]:232 He later served as consultant to Laser Centers of America, Inc. (now LCA-Vision Inc.) and director of
Control Laser Corporation. Maiman continued his involvement in laser developments and applications. In addition to his patent for the first
working laser, Maiman authored a number of patents on masers, lasers, laser displays, optical scanning, and modulation.[31]

Awards and recognition

Maiman received numerous prizes, awards, and accolades over the years for his development of the first laser.
He was given membership in both the National Academies of Sciences and Engineering.[19] He was made a
Fellow of the American Physical Society, the Optical Society of America (OSA), and the Society of Photo-
Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE).[15] In 1962 Maiman was awarded the Franklin Institute's Stuart
Ballantine Medal for physics.[32]

In 1966 Maiman received the American Physical Society's Oliver E. Buckley Condensed Matter Prize and the
Fannie and John Hertz Foundation Award for distinguished contribution in the field of science,[32] presented
in a White House ceremony by President Lyndon B. Johnson.[33]

In 1976, Maiman was awarded the Optical Society of America's R.W. Wood Prize for "Pioneer Development of
the First Laser". He was the recipient of the 1983/84 Wolf Prize in Physics[14] and was also inducted into the
National Inventors Hall of Fame that year.[10][34] In 1987 Maiman was awarded the Japan Prize[14] in Electro-
Optics for "realization of the world's first laser."[35]

In 1994, he was inducted as an honorary fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, the only non-
physician, non-royal member. Time magazine cited Maiman's invention of the laser as among the twenty most
important technological developments of the 20th century.[36] Many universities granted Maiman honorary
degrees, with the last from Simon Fraser University in 2002.[37]

Recognition for Maiman and his laser invention continued posthumously. In a 2007 obituary testimonial,
maser co-inventor Charles H. Townes described Maiman's 1960 Nature article on his laser as "probably more Maiman with his wife, Kathleen, and
important per word than any of the papers published by Nature over the past century."[38] The annual his stepdaughter, Cynthia Sanford, in
Theodore Maiman Student Paper Competition was established in 2008, endowed by major laser groups, and is April 1966.
administered by the OSA Foundation.[39] In 2010 numerous events were staged worldwide by major scientific
and industry photonics organizations to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Maiman's first laser and subsequent
lasers under the umbrella of LaserFest.[40]
The U.S. Congress passed a resolution celebrating the invention of the laser and citing Maiman.[41] Also in 2010 Maiman's laser achievement was
recognized as an IEEE Milestone,[37] and the American Physical Society presented Hughes Research Laboratories with a plaque to commemorate
the historic site of the world's first laser.[42]

In 2011, Maiman was recognized by Stanford University as a "Stanford Engineering Hero", citing his "rare blend of advanced training in physics and
engineering combined with significant laboratory experience".[43] In 2014, the National Academy of Sciences published a biographical memoir of
Maiman including a tribute by Nick Holonyak, Jr.[44]

Death
Maiman died from systemic mastocytosis on May 5, 2007 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, where he lived with his wife, Kathleen.[10][45]

See also
Gordon Gould

References
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Emission. John Wiley & Sons. pp. 22–28. s/apsnews/201005/physicshistory.cfm). Physics History: May 16,
2. Bromberg, Joan Lisa (1991). The Laser in America, 1950–1970. MIT 1960. APS News 19. May 2010.
Press. pp. 86–92. 8. "The First Ruby Laser"
3. Bertolotti, Mario (2005). The History of the Laser (https://archive.org/ (http://www.laserfest.org/lasers/how/ruby.cfm). LaserFest. Retrieved
details/historyoflaser0000bert/page/226). Institute of Physics December 31, 2013.
Publishing. pp. 226–234 (https://archive.org/details/historyoflaser000 9. "Voila. That was it! The Laser was born! Celebrating 50 Years of
0bert/page/226). ISBN 0750309113. Laser Technology, 1960–2010" (http://www.hrl.com/lasers/lsr_laser.ht
4. Townes, Charles H. (2003). Laura Garwin and Tim Lincoln (ed.). ml). HRL Laboratories LLC. Retrieved December 31, 2013.
"The First Laser" (http://www.press.uchicago.edu/Misc/Chicago/2841 10. Martin, Douglas (May 11, 2007). "Theodore Maiman, 79, Dies;
58_townes.html). A Century of Nature: Twenty-One Discoveries that Demonstrated First Laser" (https://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/11/obit
Changed Science and the World. University of Chicago Press. uaries/11maiman.html?_r=0). The New York Times.
pp. 107–12. 11. "Speech by Dr. Theodore H. Maiman, Hughes Aircraft Company, at a
5. Hecht, Jeff (2005). Beam: The Race to Make the Laser. Oxford Press Conference at the Hotel Delmonico" (http://www.hrl.com/laser
University Press. pp. 106–15, 169–82. s/pdfs/maiman_60.07.07.pdf) (PDF). New York. July 7, 1960.
6. Johnson, John Jr. (May 11, 2008). "Theodore H. Maiman, at age 32; Retrieved December 31, 2013.
scientist created the first LASER". Los Angeles Times 12. Maiman, Theodore H. (1961) "Ruby laser systems " U.S. Patent
3,353,115 (https://www.google.com/patents/US3353115)
13. Maiman, Theodore H. (2000). The Laser Odyssey: Creator of the 22. Oakes, Elizabeth H. (2009). "Theodore Maiman" (https://books.googl
World's First Laser (http://www.laserinventor.com). Laser Press. e.com/books?id=1YDrMFug17cC&pg=PA189). A to Z of STS
ISBN 978-0-9702927-0-4. Retrieved December 2, 2015. Scientists. p. 189. ISBN 978-1-4381-0925-1.
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51179/Theodore-Maiman.html). The Telegraph. May 11, 2007. Ruby" (http://laserfest.org/lasers/history/paper-maiman.pdf) (PDF).
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laserinventor.com" (http://www.laserinventor.com/bio.html). Retrieved i.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1960Natur.187..493M).
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Bibcode:1955PhRv...98.1144. (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/195 25. Maiman, T.H. (August 15, 1961). "Stimulated Optical Emission in
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103%2FPhysRev.98.1144). 123 (4): 1145–50. Bibcode:1961PhRv..123.1145M (https://ui.adsabs.
18. Lamb, Jr., W.E.; Maiman, T.H. (January 15, 1957). "Measurement of harvard.edu/abs/1961PhRv..123.1145M).
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tps://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1957PhRv..105..573L). Evtuhov, V. (August 15, 1961). "Stimulated Optical Emission in
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External links
Theodore H. Maiman (http://www.ieeeghn.org/wiki/index.php/Theodore_H._Maiman) via IEEE Global History Network
Bright Idea: The First Lasers (history) (http://www.aip.org/history/exhibits/laser/sections/raydevices.html)
Time Photos, "20th Century Technology: Laser" (http://content.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,2026224_2200997,00.html)
 SPIE, "Lasers and Sources, Video: Theodore Maiman on the First Laser" (http://spie.org/x38947.xml)
SPIE, "Lasers and Sources, Video: Maiman's First Laser Light Shines Again" (http://spie.org/x40717.xml)
SPIE, "Video: Celebrating 50 Years of the Laser" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQQeSUvgmJE) on YouTube
CLEO, "Video: The World's First Laser, Made by Ted Maiman on May 16, 1960" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9xNxH8pUKlA) on YouTube
MIT Tech TV, "Video: The Laser at 50, symposium, October 8, 2010" (http://techtv.mit.edu/videos/16810-the-laser-at-50)

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