‘Theodore Harold Maiman’ was credited for the first successful invention of Optical or Laser Light. He is an American Engineer and Physicist, invented Laser in the year 1960.
However, there is the conflict that Theodore is the not the one who invented Laser first, whereas, ‘Gordon Gould’ has invented the Laser first.
The full form of LASER is “Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation”. Theodore invented the Laser first while working at the ‘Hughes Research Laboratory’. The invention of Laser by Maiman has led to many other types of subsequent later development. The Laser is a device that emits a beam of light by using the process of Optical Amplification. It focuses the light in a narrow path at a concentrated way. It emits light in a spatial and temporally coherent manner. It keeps the beam of light on a narrow path and covering a long distance. It generates a huge amount of energy, which is used in Laser cutting and Laser pointing.
He received Patent for his invention, as well as many awards and honors for his contribution. He has been accredited with inventing, demonstrating, and patenting the World’s first LASER. He narrated his whole experience from starting the struggle to the final invention of the laser and subsequent related events described in his book ‘The Laser Odyssey’. He received ‘Stuart Ballantine Medal’ in the year 1962, ‘Oliver E. Buckley Condensed Matter Prize’ in the year 1966, ‘Wolf Prize in Physics’ in the year 1983, and received ‘Japan Prize’ in the year 1987.
The Laser is now widely in use in various fields like Optical Disk Drive, Barcode Scanner, Fibre-optics, laser printer, DNA sequencing instruments, laser surgery, skin treatments, cutting and welding materials, military and law enforcement devices, and laser lighting display for the entertainment purpose. The laser lights are also used in luxury cars.