Biotech Values

[Biowatch]

OT Neils Bohr

How the Laser Happened

I just read How the Laser Happened, physicist Charles Townes’ memoir about the development of the maser and laser. In addition to chronicling Townes’ seminal contributions to “amplification by stimulated emission of radiation,” the book provides a unique window into the process of discovery and invention. Townes reinforces some conventional ideas about the creative process while totally demolishing others...

Townes describes how at first respected scientists doubted his work. When he began developing the maser at Columbia University, both I.I. Rabi and Polykarp Kusch tried to dissuade him, arguing it was a waste of resources. One Columbia professor went even further, insisting that elementary physics precluded the maser working as Townes envisioned. Niels Bohr told Townes “But that is not possible” and John von Neumann exclaimed “That can’t be right.”

To say that most physicists came around once Townes demonstrated a working maser would be a tremendous understatement. Suddenly everyone wanted to climb on the maser bandwagon. A popular joke at the time was that maser stood for “means of acquiring support for expensive research.”

...One of Townes’ most fascinating ideas concerns the scientific method. While most scientists like to test their ideas in the laboratory as soon as possible, Townes prefers to get the theory right first. That way, developing a device is simply a matter of correctly applying the theory. It isn’t that he considers empirical research the wrong way to do science—it’s just that it isn’t the right way for him.One of Townes’ most fascinating ideas concerns the scientific method. While most scientists like to test their ideas in the laboratory as soon as possible, Townes prefers to get the theory right first. That way, developing a device is simply a matter of correctly applying the theory. It isn’t that he considers empirical research the wrong way to do science—it’s just that it isn’t the right way for him...

http://www.irabrodsky.com/index.php?/archives/26-How-the-Laser-Happened.html