48 years since the invention of the first laser: we salute Theodore Maiman

Back on May 16 in 1960 Theodore Maiman did something special by inventing the world’s first laser, so today we celebrate its 48th birthday. When the laser was first invented it was described as a solution looking for a problem, however before long it was looked at as a harness for medicine as well as science and technology. Today it does not matter where you turn lasers are all around us, I even have one in my mouse as I tap away writing this article.

Theodore Maiman managed to get the worlds first laser working while he was at the Hughes Research Laboratory in California, on that day back in 1960 he used a high-power flash lamp which he then shinned on a ruby rod that was covered with a silver coating. The funny thing is he submitted his report of his findings to the Physical Review Letters but that editors turned the report down. Many believe the reason why they turned the laser finding down was that they were receiving too many papers on the maser, which used a longer-wavelength than that of the laser.

You have to wonder where we would now be without the invention of the laser; it is one of those things that we take for granted. If you were to go back 20 years and you asked someone what they thought about the laser, they would mention something about Ronald Regan’s Star Wars Project. Today though a laser is not though of as a weapon, it is a piece of technology that gives us precision like the one in my mouse, as well as the ones in our supermarkets, hospitals, building sites, hey the list is endless but you get what I mean.

Happy Birthday too the laser.