Watching your favorite movie on DVD. Surfing the web. Scanning barcodes at the grocery store. For the past 50 years, lasers have revolutionized the way we live. This milestone marks one of the greatest inventions of the 20th century! Through a series of events and programs, LaserFest will help to showcase the prominence of the laser in today's world.
Charles Townes honored during celebration of laser's 50th birthday
UC Berkeley News
Podcast: "Looking Back on the Laser"
NPR Science Friday
The laserdisc player, introduced in 1978, was the first mass-market consumer product to include a laser.
1959: Gordon Gould introduces the term laser in a paper, "The LASER: Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation".
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Theodore Maiman
An explanation of the first ruby laser by Theodore Maiman
Lasers: Solution Looking for a Problem
A documentary by Lawrence Sutherland
Laser History & Development
Interview with Charles H. Townes
Lasers: Today & The Future
Interview with Charles H. Townes
