![cover image](https://wikiwandv2-19431.kxcdn.com/_next/image?url=https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c1/Charles_Hard_Townes-Nibib-2007-retouched.jpg/640px-Charles_Hard_Townes-Nibib-2007-retouched.jpg&w=640&q=50)
Charles Hard Townes
20th-century American physicist / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Charles Hard Townes (July 28, 1915 ā January 27, 2015) was an American Nobel Prize-winning physicist[1] and educator.
Quick Facts Born, Died ...
Charles Hard Townes | |
---|---|
![]() Townes in 2007 | |
Born | (1915-07-28)July 28, 1915 |
Died | January 27, 2015(2015-01-27) (aged 99) |
Nationality | American |
Alma mater | Furman University (B.S. & B.A.) Duke University (M.A.) Caltech (Ph.D.) |
Known for | Inventing the Maser |
Awards | Comstock Prize in Physics (1958) Young Medal and Prize (1963) Nobel Prize in Physics (1964) IEEE Medal of Honor (1967) National Medal of Science (1982) Lomonosov Gold Medal (2000) Vannevar Bush Award (2006) SPIE Gold Medal (2010) |
Scientific career | |
Fields | Physics |
Institutions | Berkeley Bell Labs Institute for Defense Analyses Columbia MIT University Of Michigan |
Doctoral advisor | William Smythe |
Doctoral students | Ali Javan James P. Gordon Robert Boyd Raymond Y. Chiao |
Close
Townes is known for his work on the theory and application of the maser, on which he got the fundamental patent, and other work in quantum electronics connected with both maser and laser devices.
He shared the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1964 with Nikolay Basov and Alexander Prokhorov. In 1982, Townes received the National Medal of Science, presented by President Ronald Reagan.
Townes was born in Greenville, South Carolina. Townes died at the age of 99 in Oakland, California, on January 27, 2015.[2]