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15/01/30/1537238 story

The Passing of Charles Townes - Inventor of the Laser

posted by janrinok on Saturday January 31 2015, @05:26AM   
from the RIP dept.

hubie writes:

Charles Townes, often cited as the inventor of the laser (though it took multiple decades to settle patent claims with Gordon Gould), passed away on January 27 at the age of 99. He shared the 1964 Nobel Prize for Physics with Nicolay Basov and Aleksandr Prokhorov for the development of the maser.

• inventor of the shark inventor of the shark (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 31 2015, @05:55AM

  by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 31 2015, @05:55AM (#139745)

  Finally, the inventor of the laser has met the inventor of the shark.

  • Re:inventor of the shark Re:inventor of the shark (Score: 2) by NotSanguine on Saturday January 31 2015, @06:37AM

    by NotSanguine (285) <{NotSanguine} {at} {SoylentNews.Org}> on Saturday January 31 2015, @06:37AM (#139754) Homepage Journal

    Yup, the U.S.S.R. [wikipedia.org] is dead too.

    As an atheist, I don't believe in an afterlife, but if you want to trot out that tired meme, I'll play along.

    --
    No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical. --Niels Bohr

    Parent

    • Re:inventor of the shark Re:inventor of the shark (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 31 2015, @07:02AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 31 2015, @07:02AM (#139757)

      I don't believe in memes, you insensitive clod!

      Have I mentioned today that I am gay? Gay gay gay, just like your stupid atheist asshole.

      Parent

      • Re:inventor of the shark (Score: 2) by NotSanguine on Saturday January 31 2015, @05:07PM

        by NotSanguine (285) <{NotSanguine} {at} {SoylentNews.Org}> on Saturday January 31 2015, @05:07PM (#139838) Homepage Journal

        I guess you don't have a sense of humor either. Poor child. I hope you acquire one someday. I suggest beating somebody about the head and face and taking theirs.

        Ciao!

        --
        No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical. --Niels Bohr

        Parent

• There was a great computer named after him, too (Score: 2) by Magic Oddball on Saturday January 31 2015, @08:49AM

  by Magic Oddball (3847) on Saturday January 31 2015, @08:49AM (#139773) Journal

  I stared at his surname for a moment before I remembered where I'd seen it — the Fujitsu Micro 'FM' Townes/Towns [old-computers.com] was named after him as Fujitsu named all of their computers after Nobel Prize-winning scientists, though the "e" had to be dropped for the production model to make it clear his surname is pronounced "townz" and not "tow-ness."

  (Anyone that is into older computer games from the 1980s should take a look at the Towns versions [mobygames.com] of any favorites if you haven't before, as they're often greatly enhanced.)

• Gordon Gould related to Commodore International? (Score: 2) by kaszz on Sunday February 01 2015, @03:25AM

  by kaszz (4211) on Sunday February 01 2015, @03:25AM (#139967) Journal

  Does that Gordon Gould have anything to do with Irving Gould [commodore.ca] that financed Commodore International?