From:http://www.bell-labs.com/history/laser/invention/townes-bio.html

1915 - Born in Greenville, S.C.

1935 - Receives a B.A. and a B.S. from Furman University.

1937 - Receives an M.A. from Duke University.

1939 - Joins Bell Labs on West Street, N.Y.C., after receiving his Ph.D. degree in physics from the California Institute of Technology.

1948 - Becomes an associate professor of physics at Columbia University.

1949 - Meets Arthur L. Schawlow, who comes to Columbia University on a fellowship and works as a research assistant to him.

1950 - Becomes a professor of physics at Columbia and executive director of the Columbia Radiation Laboratory.

1951 - Conceives if the idea of a maser (similar ideas occur independently to A. Prokhorov and N. Basov in Moscow and J. Weber of the University of Maryland).

1952 - Becomes chairman of Columbia's Physics Department.

1953 - Builds the first maser with J. P. Gordon and H. J. Zeiger at Columbia.

1955 - Co-authors the book Microwave Spectroscopy with Schawlow.

1956 - Serves as a Bell Labs consultant in the field of solid-state masers.

1957 - While serving as a consultant to Bell Labs, begins working with Schawlow on the principles of a device -- the laser -- that could operate at wavelengths a thousand times shorter than the maser.

1958 - Proposes with Schawlow in a paper published in the December Physical Review that the principles of the maser could be extended to the optical regions of the spectrum using an incoherent pump source.

1959-61 - Becomes vice-president and director of research for the Institute for Defense Analysis in Washington, D.C.

1960 - Receives with Schawlow a patent for the invention of the laser. The first working laser is built by Theodore Maiman at Hughes Aircraft Company using ruby at 0.69 microns.

1964 -- Shares the Nobel Prize in Physics with A. Prokhorov and N. Basov of the Lebedev Institute in Moscow for "fundamental work in the field of quantun electronics which has led to the construction of oscillators and amplifiers based on the maser-laser principle."

1966 - Becomes Institute Professor at MIT.

1967 - Becomes University Professor of Physics at the University of California at Berkeley.

1986 - Becomes University Professor of Physics, Emeritus, at the University of California at Berkeley

1998 - Joins Schawlow and scientists from Bell Labs and around the world to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the laser at the CLEO conference in San Francisco.

Convergence of Scientific and Religious Thought

A Special Presentation by Professor Charles H. Townes

Thursday, Oct 14, 1999, 7 pm, Rudder 601

Professor Charles H. Townes, father of the laser and winner of the Nobel Prize will be coming to speak at Texas A&M on October 14. No other living physicist has had a greater impact on the present scientific and technical culture than Professor Townes. The laser has revolutionized numerous applications in business, medicine, and science. The laser is the main tool in scientific applications ranging from experiments probing the foundations of quantum mechanics to searching the cosmos for weak gratitational radiation. The laser provides new tools to the surgeon and ophthalmologist, as well as the engineer and field surveyor.

Laser physics and quantum electronics are only part of Professor Townes' scientific endeavors. Recently he led a research team which demonstrated the existence of a large black hole at the center of our galaxy. In addition to his revolutionary contributions to science and technology, Professor Townes has served in administrative capacities throughout the government and as Provost of MIT. He also serves on the Board of Trustees of Southeastern Seminary.

Professor Charles Townes is one of the most brilliant scholars of the 20th Century and has earned a distinguished reputation for being hard working, honest, and forthright. Professor Townes is a committed Christian and a deep thinker who will share with us his thoughts on ways in which scientific and religious thinking are converging at the threshold of the 21st Century. His presentation will begin at 7 pm on Thursday, October 14, 1999 in Rudder 601.