Laser Chronicles Documented by the Inventor

The Laser Odyssey

The laser's genesis has been historically misrepresented. In The Laser Odyssey (published in 2000), author Theodore Maiman, creator of the first laser, reveals how and why the laser really came about and exposes common myths about the laser's creation.
Beginning with stories from childhood and early work experiences, Maiman recounts the course of his education up to his days in the Stanford Physics "Basement" where he worked on his doctoral thesis under Nobel Laureate Willis Lamb.
Dr. Maiman takes readers through the sociological, technological, and political obstacles that challenged and inspired him in the development of the laser. He describes the response of a startled scientific community when he produced the first man-made coherent light using a design approach that had been scoffed at, condemned, and discarded by acclaimed scientists in the field.
The Laser Odyssey will appeal to many, from the general reader who will easily absorb the essential qualities of laser technology to the sophisticated science buff.

The Laser Inventor: Memoirs of Theodore Harold Maiman

The book, published in 2018 by the distinguished scientific publisher Springer, is an extended version of The Laser Odyssey. It includes photos and documentary materials related to T. Maiman's life and accomplishments never before published. This important autobiography is augmented with Introduction written by Kathleen Maiman, includes several important addenda on scientific papers, Maiman’s ruby laser patent, as well as his highly deserved awards. The book is available widely, including Amazon and Indigo.

In 2010, the year of the 50th anniversary of the laser, The Laser Odyssey was translated and published in Russian language.
In 2021 Polish version titled Odyseja laserowa was released by PWN (Polish Scientific Publishers).

Excerpt from the books:

It was the afternoon of May 16, 1960; it was time to confirm or deny all the fears of why the "ruby can't work"; Or, why "lasers can't be made to work." No more new calculations, no more diversionary experiments. This was the moment of truth!

“The laser head was mounted on a workbench. The flashlamp was connected to the power supply. The trigger electrode was connected to the spark coil, (the mechanism that initiates the flash from the strobe lamp). The light output from the coupling hole in the end of the ruby was directed through the Bausch and Lomb monochromator to a photomultiplier tube, (a very sensitive form of photoelectric cell). The electrical signal from the photomultiplier was connected to the Hughes Memoscope.

Irnee D'Haenens and I were the only ones performing and observing the experiment.

We first took a test shot so that we could adjust the monitoring equipment. We turned up the power supply to about 500 volts. We fired the flashtube. Indeed, we observed a trace on the Memoscope!

That trace was a recording of the red ruby fluorescence. The decay in the trace was about three milliseconds, the lifetime of the upper possible laser level. We made the appropriate adjustments to optimize the monitor display.

We continued. We progressively increased the supply voltage, each time monitoring and recording the light output trace. As we did so, the peak output increased proportionately to the energy output and the decay time remained the same … So far, so good.

But, when we got past 950 volts on the power supply, everything changed! The output trace started to shoot up in peak intensity and the initial decay time rapidly decreased.

Voila. This was it!

The laser was born!”

What People are Saying:

“The world is indebted to you for your invention" - Jimmy Carter, former US President.

"More than five decades later, we can safely conclude that Theodore Maiman's groundbreaking discovery changed the world. Our modern life just as scientific research would be quite different without the laser." - Dr. Ferenc Krausz, Director, Max Planck Institute for Quantum Optics, Garching, Germany, Professor of Physics, Ludwig Maximilian University, Munich, pioneer in attosecond lasers and attophysics, Laureate of 2023 Nobel Prize in Physics. 

"No one beat Maiman to the laser. How important is the laser? How important are all lasers? That is how important we have to regard Maiman’s contribution. He and the laser changed all of our lives, everyone’s!" - Dr. Nick Holonyak, Jr., Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Physics, University of Illinois at Champaigne-Urbana, and inventor of the light-emitting diode (LED) and co-inventor of the transistor laser.

"Maiman had the stroke of genius needed to take a different approach [from his competitors]. The sheer elegance and simplicity of his design belies the intellectual achievement it represents. If his invention seems obvious to some today, it was far from obvious in 1960." - Jeff Hecht, authoritative science writer on the historical development of the laser, author of books on lasers and fiber optics.

"Beside Theodore Maiman's interesting biography, the laser story is laid out fully, truthfully and within the proper context. The truth always comes out in the end but it never hurts to help it along." - Bernard Soffer, optical physicist, Los Angeles, California.

"It is a wonderful book and you have every reason to be proud of it... I like the tone - very much. Historians of science will (have to) pay attention to the details you have provided. Every young scientist should take note of your important lessons: healthy skepticism and being a maverick are necessary qualities to build the confidence that you need to explore uncharted territories prior to any discovery." - Jacob Kuriyan, physicist/software entrepreneur, Albuquerque, New Mexico.

"I am delighted that this has finally come into print for everybody needs to know about your great achievements." - Stephen Joffe, laser surgeon/entrepreneur and LASIK industry pioneer, Cincinnati, Ohio.

"The Laser Odyssey brought back a mass of memories and emotions as I read of Dr. Maiman's recollections and personal struggles. There is much in the book that confirmed my own memories of the devious obstacles that Hughes and the science establishment dealt out as we went about the goals of work. I recall the worry and frustration that I also felt about some of the people we were supposed to depend on for leadership and insight in those days. I think we knew then that we were all fragile, and for that matter still are if not more so, but Dr. Maiman somehow had the guts to count on himself and make a path to accomplishment." - Don Devor, optical physicist.

“The book was an eye opener…it gave me immense satisfaction and pleasure to read through Maiman's struggles. As I read on, I understood the categorical proof of why things never worked on the first optical maser. It made me happy to have had a first hand account from the creator of the LASER himself. STUBBY RUBY WORKED AND ROCKED THE WORLD!!! Congratulations to Dr. Maiman for bringing out the truth to an ordinary physics student. This is one book, which compelled me to finish it in one night! I wish we had teachers and physicists like Dr. Maiman who would not be afraid to stand up and call a spade a spade with honor and integrity." - Raj Kombiyil, physics student, Fairbanks Alaska