American inventor Charles Hard Townes (1915-?) joined the technical staff of Bell Telephone Laboratories, Inc., in 1939, where he worked on radar bombing systems during World War II. In 1948 he joined the faculty of Columbia University. Three years later he had the idea that culminated in construction of the maser, in December 1953.
An acronym for microwave amplification by stimulated emission of radiation the maser was soon followed by the laser, a device utilizing visible light. Apart from being useful tools in the laboratory, both masers and lasers have found many applications in radar, communications, astronomy, navigation, atomic clocks, surgery, and industry.
From 1959 to 1961 Townes served as vice president and director of research of the Institute for Defense Analysis, Washington, D. C. He then was appointed provost and professor of physics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.