The first laser was built by the American scientist Theodore H. Maiman. The laser produces an intense beam of light having a very pure single wavelength (color). The beam is intense enough to vaporize metals and drill holes in diamonds. It can also be directed so precisely on a target that it can be used to perform surgery on a single cell or to reattach a damaged retina in the human eye. Besides their many important scientific applications, lasers have a number of practical uses that are important in everyday life. For example, they can record information onto special computer disks, transmit telephone information over long distances through special optical fibers, and create television images. Scientists predict that many new uses for lasers will be found throughout the 2000's. |
Marianna A. Busch is the Chair and a Professor in the Department of Chemistry at Baylor University. Her Top 10 list centers on the most important scientific events of the 1900's. She discusses what these events meant to scientists and society in general. She calls attention to a number of the groundbreaking scientists who left their mark on the world of science in this century. |