Arthur L. Schawlow
| Arthur Leonard Schawlow | |
|---|---|
Arthur Leonard Schawlow
|
|
| Born |
May 5, 1921 Mount Vernon, New York, U.S. |
| Died | April 28, 1999 (aged 77) Palo Alto, California, U.S. |
| Nationality | United States |
| Fields | Physics |
| Institutions |
Bell Labs Columbia University Stanford University |
| Alma mater | University of Toronto |
| Doctoral advisor | Malcolm Crawford |
| Known for | laser spectroscopy |
| Notable awards |
Stuart Ballantine Medal (1962) Marconi Prize (1977) Nobel Prize for Physics (1981) National Medal of Science (1991) |
| Spouse | Aurelia Townes (m. 1951; 3 children) |
Arthur Leonard Schawlow (May 5, 1921 – April 28, 1999) was an American physicist. He shared the 1981 Nobel Prize in Physics with Nicolaas Bloembergen and Kai Siegbahn for his work on lasers.
Schawlow was born in Mount Vernon, New York. His mother, Helen (Mason), was from Canada, and his father, Arthur Schawlow, was a Jewish immigrant from Riga, then Russian Empire (now Latvia; Schawlow was raised in his mother's Protestant religion). When Arthur was three years old, they moved to Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
At the age of 16, he completed high school at Vaughan Road Academy (then Vaughan Collegiate Institute), and received a scholarship in science at the University of Toronto (Victoria College). After earning his undergraduate degree, Schawlow continued in graduate school at the University of Toronto which was interrupted due to World War II. At the end of the war, he began work on his Ph.D at U of T with Professor Malcolm Crawford. He then took a postdoctoral position with Charles Townes at the physics department of Columbia University in the fall of 1949.
In 1951, he married Aurelia Townes, younger sister to physicist Charles Hard Townes, and, together, they had three children; Arthur Jr., Helen, and Edith. Arthur Jr. was autistic, with very little speech ability.
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