--- title: Charles Townes, Inventor of the Laser, Dies Aged 99 description: Townes jointly won the 1964 Nobel Prize in Physics for his invention canonical: https://time.com/3687197/charles-townes-inventor-laser-dies-99/ author: Rishi Iyengar article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-01-29T06:47:58.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T03:58:09.272Z article:section: Science og:title: Inventor of the Laser Dies og:description: Charles Townes won the 1964 Nobel Prize in Physics for his efforts. og:url: https://time.com/3687197/charles-townes-inventor-laser-dies-99/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blteab9184c9388e351/69877c7c2dce01b8bf9dd3f4/50336690.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Nobel Prize-winning physicist Dr. Charle og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Inventor of the Laser Dies twitter:description: Charles Townes won the 1964 Nobel Prize in Physics for his efforts. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blteab9184c9388e351/69877c7c2dce01b8bf9dd3f4/50336690.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Charles Townes, Inventor of the Laser, Dies Aged 99 by [Rishi Iyengar](https://time.com/author/rishi-iyengar/) ## Rishi Iyengar Jan 29, 2015 6:47 AM UTC  Nobel Prize-winning physicist Dr. Charles Townes at Cal Tech Jet Propulsion lab on 29 Oct, 1964. Nobel Prize-winning physicist Dr. Charles Townes at Cal Tech Jet Propulsion lab on 29 Oct, 1964.Julian Wasse—The LIFE Images Collection/Getty by [Rishi Iyengar](https://time.com/author/rishi-iyengar/) ## Rishi Iyengar Jan 29, 2015 6:47 AM UTC Charles Townes, the Nobel Prize-winning physicist credited with the invention of the laser and its predecessor — the maser — [died](https://newscenter.berkeley.edu/2015/01/27/nobel-laureate-and-laser-inventor-charles-townes-dies-at-99/) in Oakland, Calif., on Tuesday. Townes’ health had been rapidly deteriorating and he died on the way to the hospital, according to the University of California Berkeley, where he had taught physics since 1967. Townes, who was 99, jointly won the 1964 Nobel Prize in Physics for his contribution to the field of lasers, sharing it with two Russian scientists. Born in Greenville, S.C., in 1915, Townes studied at Duke University before completing his PhD at Caltech in 1939\. A stint at Bell Labs was followed by a faculty position at Columbia University, where he taught before moving to MIT in 1961 and finally to Berkeley six years later. “Charlie Townes had an enormous impact on physics and society in general,” said Steven Boggs, professor and chair of the UC Berkeley Department of Physics. “His overwhelming dedication to science and personal commitment to remaining active in research was inspirational to all of us.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3687197/charles-townes-inventor-laser-dies-99/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3687197/charles-townes-inventor-laser-dies-99/"},"headline":"Charles Townes, Inventor of the Laser, Dies Aged 99","datePublished":"2015-01-29T06:47:58.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T03:58:09.272Z","description":"Townes jointly won the 1964 Nobel Prize in Physics for his invention","url":"https://time.com/3687197/charles-townes-inventor-laser-dies-99/","keywords":["Physics","Columbia University","nobel prize","Berkeley"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blteab9184c9388e351/69877c7c2dce01b8bf9dd3f4/50336690.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Rishi Iyengar","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/rishi-iyengar/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blteab9184c9388e351/69877c7c2dce01b8bf9dd3f4/50336690.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Nobel Prize-winning physicist Dr. Charle","caption":"Nobel Prize-winning physicist Dr. Charle","creditText":"Julian Wasse—The LIFE Images Collection/Getty","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/physics/","name":"Physics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3687197/charles-townes-inventor-laser-dies-99/","name":"Charles Townes, Inventor of the Laser, Dies Aged 99"}}]}] ```