Experimental cesium laser component
date: label: date made
content: 1961
name: label: maker
content: Gould, Gordon
notes: label: Description
content: In 1957 Columbia University physicist Charles Townes discussed recent maser developments with Gordon Gould, a Ph.D. student at the University. Inspired by the conversation, Gould wrote down thoughts and ideas for lasers and had the pages of his notebook notarized. Recognizing the commercial potential of lasers, Gould left Columbia and pursued laser research at TRG, a defense company founded in 1953.
label: Description
content: Though he lost the race to make the first working laser, Gould did make several lasers using cesium in 1961. This is the cesium light source for one of the early lasers based on his designs. The extent to which Gould’s notarized ideas were his own ignited fierce debate and patent litigation that lasted into the 1990s. The result of the litigation was that Gould’s patents, based on his 1957 notebook entries, were upheld.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
topic: label: Subject
content: Invention
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Electricity
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content: Energy & Power
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content: Lasers
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content: Science & Mathematics
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: from Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn, thru Gordon Gould, Stephen Jacobs and Paul Rabinowitz
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: EM.330385
label: catalog number
content: 330385
label: accession number
content: 288761
objectType: label: Object Name
content: laser
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: glass (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: metal (electrodes material)
label: Physical Description
content: cesium (fill gas material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 4 1/4 in x 3 1/4 in x 3/8 in; 10.795 cm x 8.255 cm x .9525 cm