Theodore Maiman

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Theodore Maiman.

Theodore Harold Maiman (born July 11, 1927) is an American physicist that invented the first operable laser device (U.S. patent 3,353,115). Maiman received the Japan Prize in 1987. He is the author of a book titled "The Laser Odyssey".

In his teens, Maiman earned college money by repairing electrical appliances and radios. He attended the University of Colorado and received a B.S. in engineering physics in 1949 then went on to do graduate work at Stanford University, where he received an M.S. in electrical engineering in 1951 and a Ph.D. in physics in 1955. In 1962 Maiman founded his own company, Korad Corporation, devoted to the research, development, and manufacture of lasers. He formed Maiman Associates in 1968 after selling Korad to Union Carbide Corporation

Maiman's laser, based on a synthetic ruby crystal grown by Dr. Ralph L. Hutcheson, was first operated on 16 May 1960 at Hughes Research Laboratories in Malibu, California. After a protracted legal battle, some key laser patents were awarded to Gordon Gould.

Due to his work on the laser, he was twice nominated for a Nobel Prize and was given membership in both the National Academies of Science and Engineering. He was the recipient of the 1983/84 Physics Prize, and was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame that same year. He and his wife now live in Vancouver, Canada.