Gordon Gould had the battle of his life receiving credit for his laser invention. He had to go through federal court battles and being dismissed from the project by the United States armed forces.
The history of the laser began with a little boy and an Erector set. A little boy by the name of Gordon Gould was the son of Kenneth Miller and Helen Gould. He was born in New York City on July 17, 1920. The Erector set is a construction kit that children use to put things together and take them apart. After watching his mother use the set to construct various things, Gordon began to construct things himself and take them apart. So this was the beginning of taking things apart and fixing them for a creative child. With the help of his brothers, he began to take clocks apart piece-by-piece and attempt to fix them. During Gordon's childhood he enjoyed working with his hands and while in high school he wanted to become an inventor.
He graduated in 1941 from Union College in Schenectady with a Bachelor of Science degree in physics. During the summer after graduation he found a job working at Western Electric. But he could not seem to climb the corporate ladder quick enough and soon became discouraged. Most of the employees were older and had spent most of their working life proving themselves. He was very impatient and quit the job to attend Yale University. Gould was a very inquisitive and determined young man, therefore, he became interested in the correlation between light and matter. His question was what constituents make up light and sound? In 1905, Albert Einstein spun the world around when he determined that a form of energy called photons make up light.
Gould's life took an interesting turn when he studied light at Yale as he was working on his master's degree. He got a job working for the United States government on a project for constructing the atomic bomb. For about three years he worked on this project, which was given the name "˜Manhattan Project'. After working on this project from 1943 until 1945, Gould decided to teach at City College in New York. Not too long after he began teaching, he got married. His wife was a German philosopher who was interested in the theories of Karl Marx. Gould also became interested in Marxism, but lost interest after the Soviets took over Czechoslovakia in 1948. As you can imagine, the differences in opinion regarding the concept of Marxism was what caused Gordon and his wife to divorce.
Gordon then decided it was time to continue his education by working on his doctorate. In 1954, he managed to enroll at Columbia University and also left his teaching position. Columbia University was known for its in-depth study of microwave research. Charles Hard Townes was a part of the faculty and was associated with the invention of the maser. This stands for Microwave Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation. This invention was the apparatus used for making microwaves. Townes' invention was of great interest to Gould so he once again became inquisitive and studied light waves, along with the microwave concept. He knew there had to be something that would make use of the power of light.
When Townes called Gould asking him about if he would provide information on the subject of high-energy lamps. Gould knew that he must work quickly to find the discovery for light emissions. One night in November of 1957, while lying in bed unable to sleep he was struck with an idea. He knew how to build a laser using the idea of optical pumping. The next thing he needed to do was to write down his thoughts and begin sketching some drawings of how an apparatus could emit powerful light. Before he could begin any type of calculations for the energy to be used, he wanted to assign a name to this idea. He decided upon the word laser, which stood for Light Amplification by Simulated Emission of Radiation. Yes, you are correct if this sounds somewhat familiar. The term laser was based on Townes' invention, maser.
Now with that out of the way, Gould could concentrate on developing calculations that would make a determination for the amount of energy that light amplification could produce. He found out by his calculations that a laser could possibly emit heat as hot as the sun to heat a substance. This could take place in a millionth of a second! Gould was so elated by his findings that he began to contemplate what the laser could be used for. But he needed to protect what he had written and calculated in his notebook. He immediately located a notary public to authorize his notebook. If Gould had not done this, his claim to the inventor of the laser would have been lost.
Gould did receive some bad news about getting a patent on this idea. That was the problem, it was only an idea. He would have to construct a working model to prove that his calculations would work. This was the most important thing at this point in his life, so he abandoned the idea of obtaining his doctorate in 1958. Now the question of financial backing for this project was prevalent. He joined a company called Technical Research Group, which was comprised of creative scientists that were interested in developing and implementing new ideas. Gould encountered competition because his brother-in-law Schawlow and Charles Townes were also working on the invention of the laser. In 1958, these two gentlemen filed for a patent. Unfortunately, Gould was unable to file that year but filed the following year. As you can guess, Gould's patent was rejected.
Gould's bad luck did not stop, and he received other bad news from the government. Gould was not about to give up his dream for the laser. He wanted to continue research with the United States armed forces. In 1959, the military approved his research and offered $300,000 to support this endeavor. Usually when a person works on this type of project, it is classified as a government secret. This is exactly what happened and it worked to Gould's disadvantage. Because of his past history of being a supporter of the Marxist group, his permission to work on or be a part of this research was removed. So who took credit for the invention of the laser? It was Theodore Maiman of the Hughes Aircraft Company in 1960 that got credit for the development of the laser.
Gould was livid and knew that Maiman was receiving credit for a research project he had devoted time and money to. Gould knew that he would have to dress for battle and was not going to give up ownership of his invention. Keep in mind the government had not allowed Gould to work on the project; therefore, someone else took advantage of the opportunity. The battle continued and finally reached federal court. While working for Technical Research Group, he decided he wanted to find a job doing the thing he loved best, research. In 1973, Gould formed Optelecom, Inc. Technical Research Group became Control Data Corporation on 1965. All patent rights were returned to Gould in 1970 by Control Data Corporation.
Then it happened in 1973 when he won his first court victory. The courts decided the documentation for the laser provided by Townes and Schawlow did not reflect the instructions for building a laser. Good news was heard in October of 1977. Gould's optic pump was finally given a patent. The good news did not stop with the optic pump. The United States Patent Office Appeals Board overturned all objections in 1986. This is something that Gould had been waiting to hear for years. Gould was 67 years old and his dream was finally coming true.
History was made with Gould's invention of the laser and the world reaps its benefits almost every day. Lasers can measure the distance to the moon and are being used in communications. The Universal Product Code we see on items is associated with the laser. The laser is responsible for compact disks, which contain recorded sound. Gould will be remembered as the inventor who was the most influential in the 20th century.
