Charles Townes
| Charles Townes | |
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Townes during 2007.
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| Born | Charles Hard Townes July 28, 1915 Greenville, South Carolina, U.S. |
| Died | January 27, 2015 (aged 99) Oakland, California, U.S. |
| Residence | United States |
| Nationality | American |
| Fields | Physics |
| Institutions | |
| Alma mater |
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| Thesis | Concentration of the heavy isotope of carbon and measurement of its nuclear spin (1939) |
| Doctoral advisor | William Smythe |
| Doctoral students | |
| Known for | Lasers |
| Notable awards |
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| Spouse | Frances Brown (m. 1941–2015) (his death) |
Charles Hard Townes (July 28, 1915 – January 27, 2015) was an American physicist and inventor of the maser and laser. Townes was known for his work concerning the theory and application of the maser, for which he obtained the fundamental patent, and other work in quantum electronics associated with both maser and laser devices. He shared the Nobel Prize in Physics during 1964 with Nikolay Basov and Alexander Prokhorov. Charles was also a major advisor to the United States Government, meeting every US President from Harry Truman (1945) to William Clinton (1999). One of the most notable committees he directed for the US government was the Science and Technology Advisory Committee for the Apollo flights, which was effective at making the program a success on schedule without exceeded its budget. After becoming a professor of the University of California at Berkeley during 1967, he began an astrophysical program that produced several important discoveries, for example the black hole at the center of the Milky Way Galaxy. Townes was religious and believed that science and religion are converging to provide a greater understanding of the nature and purpose of the universe.
Townes was born in Greenville, South Carolina, the son of Henry Keith Townes (1876-1958), an attorney, and Ellen Sumter Townes (née Hard; 1881-1980). He earned his B.S. in Physics and B.A. in Modern Languages at Furman University, where he graduated during 1935. Townes completed work for the Master of Arts degree in Physics at Duke University during 1937, and then began graduate school at the California Institute of Technology, from which he received a Ph.D. degree during 1939. During World War II he worked on radar bombing systems at Bell Labs.
Townes was appointed Professor during 1950 at Columbia University. He served as Executive Director of the Columbia Radiation Laboratory from 1950 to 1952. He was Chairman of the Physics Department from 1952 to 1955.
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