Died 2015-01-27.
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #death
Figure timeline
Charles Hard Townes
Charles Hard Townes was an American physicist. Townes worked on the theory and application of the maser, for which he obtained the fundamental patent, and other work in quantum electronics associated with both maser and laser devices. He shared the 1964 Nobel Prize in Physics with Nikolay Basov and Alexander Prokhorov. Townes was an adviser to the U.S. Government, meeting every President from Harr…
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
science · American physicist (1915–2015) · physicist · nuclear physicist · university teacher · inventor · also Charles Hard Townes, Charles H. Townes, Townes
Born 28 July 1915 · Died 27 January 2015 · Q184566
42 published statements · 0 followers
See & hear
Photos & media
4 photos
Media from Wikimedia Commons, hotlinked at the source under its own licence — see each file for author and terms.
Live now
In the news
Pulling headlines from trusted outlets — this usually takes a few seconds
Checking the wires…
Feed scan
These are live links, not archived citations — they only join the timeline once a collect run verifies and archives them.
Live pulse
Recent highlights
Most recent outstanding titles, awards, and quotes
- Award
- Award
2015· 3 entries
“I feel that very rarely have I done any work in my life. I have a good time. I'm exploring. I'm playing a game, solving puzzles, and having fun, and for some reason people have been willing to pay me for it. Officially, I was supposed to retire years ago, but retire from what? Why stop having a good time?”
- #wikiquote
- #saying
- #undated
- #lang:en
“It's a fantastically specialized universe, but how in the world did it happen?”
- #wikiquote
- #saying
- #undated
- #lang:en
2010· 1 entry
Won SPIE Gold Medal (2010).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #trophy
- #achievement
2005· 1 entry
Awarded Templeton Prize (2005).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #award
- #achievement
2002· 1 entry
Won Karl Schwarzschild Medal (2002).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #trophy
- #achievement
2000· 1 entry
Won Lomonosov Gold Medal (2000).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #trophy
- #achievement
1999· 1 entry
Won Mendel Medal (1999).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #trophy
- #achievement
1998· 1 entry
Awarded Henry Norris Russell Lectureship (1998).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #award
- #achievement
1996· 1 entry
Won Frederic Ives Medal (1996).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #trophy
- #achievement
1992· 1 entry
Awarded honorary doctorate from ENS (1992).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #award
- #achievement
1985· 1 entry
Awarded Petrie Prize Lecture (1985).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #award
- #achievement
1982· 1 entry
Won National Medal of Science (1982).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #trophy
- #achievement
1979· 1 entry
Won Niels Bohr International Gold Medal (1979).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #trophy
- #achievement
1977· 1 entry
Awarded Earle K. Plyler Prize (1977).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #award
- #achievement
1976· 2 entries
Awarded Foreign Member of the Royal Society (1976).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #award
- #achievement
Awarded National Inventors Hall of Fame (1976).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #award
- #achievement
1972· 1 entry
Awarded Remsen Award (1972).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #award
- #achievement
1971· 1 entry
Awarded Karl G. Jansky Lectureship (1971).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #award
- #achievement
1970· 1 entry
Won Wilhelm Exner Medal (1970).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #trophy
- #achievement
1968· 1 entry
Won C.E.K. Mees Medal (1968).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #trophy
- #achievement
1967· 2 entries
Won IEEE Medal of Honor (1967).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #trophy
- #achievement
Began an astrophysical program that produced several important discoveries, for example, the black hole at the center of the Milky Way galaxy
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1964· 2 entries
Awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics — for fundamental work in the field of quantum electronics, which has led to the construction of oscillators and amplifiers based on the maser-laser principle.
- #nobel
- #award
- #honour
Awarded Nobel Prize in Physics (1964).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #award
- #achievement
1963· 2 entries
Awarded John Scott Award (1963).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #award
- #achievement
Won Young Medal and Prize (1963).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #trophy
- #achievement
1962· 1 entry
Won Stuart Ballantine Medal (1962).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #trophy
- #achievement
1961· 3 entries
Awarded Rumford Prize (1961).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #award
- #achievement
Awarded IEEE David Sarnoff Award (1961).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #award
- #achievement
Awarded John J. Carty Award for the Advancement of Science (1961).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #award
- #achievement
1959· 2 entries
Awarded IEEE Morris N. Liebmann Memorial Award (1959).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #award
- #achievement
Awarded Richtmyer Memorial Lecture Award (1959).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #award
- #achievement
1958· 1 entry
Awarded Comstock Prize in Physics (1958).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #award
- #achievement
1955· 1 entry
Awarded Guggenheim Fellowship (1955).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #award
- #achievement
1951· 1 entry
Townes conceived a new way to create intense, precise beams of coherent radiation, for which he invented the acronym maser (for Microwave Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation)
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1950· 1 entry
Townes was appointed professor at Columbia University
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1949· 1 entry
Awarded Fellow of the American Physical Society (1949).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #award
- #achievement
1939· 1 entry
With a thesis on isotope separation and nuclear spins
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
- #corroborated
- #www.nobelprize.org
1937· 1 entry
And then began graduate school at the California Institute of Technology, from which he received his Ph
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1915· 2 entries
Born 1915-07-28.
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #birth
In Greenville, South Carolina, the son of Henry Keith Townes Sr
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event