The first working laser was built by the American physicist Theodore Maiman at the Hughes Research Laboratories in Malibu, California, using a synthetic ruby crystal lit by a flash lamp, which produced a pulse of red light. The word is an acronym for light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation. The theoretical basis was Albert Einstein's description of stimulated emission in 1917, and Charles Townes and others had built the maser, a microwave version, in the 1950s. Lasers produce a narrow, intense beam of light of a single wavelength. They are now used in eye surgery, barcode scanners, fibre-optic communications, optical discs, cutting and welding, and precise measurement, although at first the laser was described as a solution looking for a problem.
Before and after
- 20 April 1960Birth of Miguel Díaz-Canel
- 21 April 1960Founding of Brasília
- 1 May 19601960 U-2 incident spy aircraft
- 9 May 1960The contraceptive pill is approved in the United States
- 16 May 1960Laser
- 21 May 19601960 Valdivia earthquake
- 30 May 1960Death of Boris Pasternak
- from June 1960 to November 1966Congo Crisis
- 30 June 1960The Congo becomes independent from Belgium
More in Science & technology
- 25 April 1953Watson and Crick publish the structure of DNA
- 14 February 1961Discovery of lawrencium
- 20 November 1985Creation of Microsoft Windows
- 1996Discovery of copernicium
- August 2003Discovery of moscovium
- 2006Discovery of nihonium
The era
This moment belongs to the Contemporary world (1945 CE to today), the world since 1945. You can also browse everything in the 20th century.