History of Laser Pointers

Lasers have Numerous Uses. They can save a person's eye, help measure the distance from Earth to the Moon or be used by the military during a secret operation. Nevertheless, lasers were not made overnight; nor were they remotely easy to idealize. It took humans dozens of years to successfully build the first laser, and even then, it didn't possess a fraction of the power current lasers have. Lasers will be cheaper by the time you finish reading this article and not only that: they will be more powerful!

It wasn't until the year 1917 when the "Stimulated Emission" concept was theorized by Albert Einstein. Ever since young, Einstein had a remarkable fascination for light and the way it reacted to certain changes. Given the nature of light, Einstein was able to realize how light dispersed, and why. He wondered about the Sun, and other sources of light. He then idealized the laser. Though he didn't create the first one, he had it in his mind ready to become his next venture. He was never able to create a laser and passed his knowledge instead.

Despite Einstein's imagination and correctness, it took science another 37 years to create the first maser (microwave amplification by stimulated emission of radiation) which was though highly similar to a laser, not visible to the human eye.

By the year 1958, Charles Townes and Arthur Schawlow, realized the importance of having a "visible maser". They had full knowledge of the light spectrum and could take advantage of that to theorize the first laser in the World. However, their glory was taken by Theodore Maiman, who invented the first laser according to numerous sources.

There are those who disagree and claim that Gordon Gould was the first to actually employ the term "laser" and build a successful one. He failed to file a patent for his invention which "hardened" the following twenty years of his life and ultimately his fame. He finally won his patent in the year 1977, though by then many had made use of his invention.

Above I have only outlined the most important events in the history of lasers. Remember that lasers are continuously improving and too many are being built on a daily basis. Gigant - very powerful - lasers have been built for melting diamonds or even astronomical purposes.

One major achievement which should be outlined as well is the creation of Green Beam Lasers. They are not only about fifty times more powerful than regular lasers, but an spectator can also see the actual green beam of light ejected from the device. This only adds to the excitement! The downside to this new technology is that green beam lasers are relatively new and yet very expensive and sometimes even unreliable. As I mentioned above, lasers are constantly improved. I wouldn't be surprised to see a green beam laser being much more efficient and cheap than a red laser in the near future!