[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 71 (Wednesday, May 12, 2010)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E823-E824]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




HONORING THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF DR. CHARLES TOWNES ON THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY 
                              OF THE LASER

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. BOB INGLIS

                           of south carolina

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, May 12, 2010

  Mr. INGLIS. Madam Speaker, I rise with my colleagues in celebration 
of the 50th anniversary of the laser. This is a unique and fitting 
opportunity to recognize Charles Hard Townes.
  South Carolina has the distinction of claiming Dr. Townes, who was 
raised on a farm just outside of Greenville and graduated from Furman 
University. His long career led him to the historic Bell Labs, Columbia 
University, the

[[Page E824]]

Institute for Defense Analysis, and the Massachusetts Institute of 
Technology, and continues today at the University of California, 
Berkely. He has made major waves in spectroscopy, radar systems, and 
now astrophysics and astronomy.
  The most notable of his achievements and the one that we celebrate 
now earned him a share in the 1964 Nobel Prize for Physics. Dr. Townes 
is most famous for his work on the precursor to the laser. This 
technology has contributed billions of dollars to our economy and we 
use it in everything from listening to music and buying groceries to 
manufacturing cars and conducting surgery. Scientists use lasers today 
to study everything from the big bang to nuclear fusion.
  This transformational technology can be traced back to an epiphany 
and a thought experiment on a Washington D.C. park bench in 1951. Three 
years of hard work and experimentation later, Dr. Townes and his team 
delivered a functional `maser.' By 1958, Bell Labs had filed a patent 
application for what we now call the laser.
  While we cheer Dr. Townes' hard work and the sweeping impact of his 
technology, we must also acknowledge his dedication to defending this 
idea. One of the most famous chapters in the history of the laser is 
the steadfast opposition Dr. Townes and his team faced from several 
eminent physicists. His perseverance pushed the research forward.
  In addition, Dr. Townes is one of only two people who have ever won 
both the Nobel Prize and the Templeton Prize. The Templeton Prize 
honors those who have made exceptional contributions to affirming 
life's spiritual dimension, and Dr. Townes received the prize for his 
papers and talks that sought harmony between scientific discovery and 
religious faith.
  It is an honor to recognize this man and his numerous contributions 
to physics and scientific inquiry. I thank him for his devotion to 
discovery, and for sharing his optimism and genius with all of us.

                          ____________________