Theodore Maiman: His invention of Laser

The rapid and unprecedented development of Information Technology, Medical Science and many other fields have some direct or indirect connection with LASERs. Though, this is an acronym for Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation, it has been widely accepted as an independent, "stand-alone' word describing the gamut of its variety of applications. It was in the year 1917 when Albert Einstein first conceptualized and put forth the theory of stimulated emission and hence, Lasers but it took more than 4 decades after that to experimentally realize the 1st working of Laser. The first Laser which worked successfully was the "Ruby" Laser and the inventor was Theodore Maiman at the Hughes lab, USA. Maiman was quite an unknown and ordinary figure before the invention of laser and appeared to be of quite small in stature in comparison to some highly-recognized figures employed by BELL LABS. But against all odds and lack of resources, the genius in Maiman gave us the first Laser. Though, this invention of Maiman has been recognized to be one of the greatest inventions in the previous century, he was not awarded Nobel Prize (nominated twice).

Here is a video where Theodore Maiman describes his experience and shows the viewer how he made the first Laser to work. It is highly inspiring to hear from a genius and his pursuit of gaining excellence.