A great article on the evolution of the laser and related science and the people that
made it happen.
This lady can write about science.
AMAZING LIGHT by Joan Lisa Bromberg
"Before the Second World War, quantum physics had few technological payoffs. The small group of imaginative scientists who had created the field were driven, like many artists or writers, by aesthetic considerations and the pursuit of truth. During and after the war, however, one after another of the phenomena of quantum physics became the basis for technological innovation -- transistors, semi-conductors, and nuclear energy, to name but a few. half a century later their combined effect has revolutionized everything from the most esoteric areas of science to the ordinary details of everyday life"
Fred
