First maser
- Who
- Charles Hard Townes
- What
- First
- Where
- United States
- When
- 1954
Maser, which stands for Microwave Amplification by Stimulation Emission of Radiation, was the precursor to the laser. It was first conceived of by Charles Hard Townes (USA) in 1951 while he was studying at Columbia University, USA, and first achieved by Townes in 1954.
Townes shared the 1964 Nobel Prize in Physics for his invention of the maser and his later work on the first ever lasers.
He died on 27 January 2015, aged 99.