--- 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: 2026-10-01T09:02:38.930Z 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=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2550 og:image:height: 1434 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=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Charles Townes, Inventor of the Laser, Dies Aged 99 > Sponsored content. 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Future Proof is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-futureproof-2026q3/newsletters?i=6d511eef-9988-4b7b-829c-349313eeffad&cr=time-nl-futureproof-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Inventor Of Laser Charles Townes Dies At 99 [Watch (HLS stream): Inventor Of Laser Charles Townes Dies At 99](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/Y4U28yyr.m3u8) (1:51)  _Published 2015-01-28. Charles Townes died Tuesday at the age of 99, more than half a century after winning a Nobel Prize for inventing the laser. Even his Nobel Prize-winning colleagues called Townes "a giant" among them._ by [Rishi Iyengar](https://time.com/author/rishi-iyengar/) ## Rishi Iyengar Jan 29, 2015 6:47 AM UTC 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.” ## Transcript The world of science lost a man even his Noble Prize winning colleagues called a giant among them. Charles Towns died Tuesday at the age of 99, more than half a century after winning a Noble Prize for inventing the laser. The widespread use of Towns' invention is hard to quantify, the laser is to modern technology what recorded audio was. Is to telecommunications, or the steam engine to the Industrial Revolution. The focused beams of light see uses as varied as the common barcode scanner, to military weapons for taking down small drones at long distances. Their use is so ingrained in our vocabulary many don't realize. Laser is an acronym, meaning light amplification by the stimulated emission of radiation. Oh, and they also make for some very cool experiments. Lasers, unlike normal white light with jumbled wave lengths are narrow beams of light with a single wave length. Formed when electrons go into an excited state. Townes said his laser revelation came while sitting on a park bench in 1951. He was head of a Navy committee tasked with figuring out how to decrease wave lengths, so they could be better used in communications. The problem was, anything making short wavelengths wasn't very powerful. And atoms typically absorb more energy than they give off. He has time and again described the moment the proverbial light went off as he sat on that bench. Wait a minute. Wait a minute, I thought. Hey, this is the way to do it. Oh yes we can do it from molecules. We get molecules in the right kind a state and that can happen. And that was exciting. The discovery eventually lead to the 1964 nobel prize for physics. Towns was a professor ameritis for the university of California, Berkley. He was ninety nine. Thank you for this good fun. Explore, explore, explore. That's what science is, is exp, exploration, finding out new things. 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