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An event to celebrate the 50th
Anniversary of the first working laser and the award
of the 2009 Nobel Prize to Professor Charles Kao CBE
FREng FRS
A day of celebration- June 17th, 2010
 There are two recent events of
great significance to all UK scientists and
engineers. First was the award of the 2009 Nobel
Prize in Physics to Charles Kao, for his invention
of Fibre Optic Communications, an invention that now
unites the whole world. Kao's research was carried
out at the Standard Telecommunications Laboratory,
in Harlow, Essex. The second event is the 50th
anniversary of the invention of the laser. The Nobel
Prize for its conception was awarded in 1964 to
Charles Townes, Nicolai Basov, and Alexander
Prokhorov. Though this was not a UK invention, the
UK has been a leader in many improvements of the
device, and has been ingenious in its exploitation.
The Royal Academy of
Engineering recognizes the importance of these
discoveries, and has sponsored a day of celebration,
assisted by the Royal Society, University College
London, the Rank Prize Funds. the Institution of
Engineering and Technology, and the Institute of
Physics. Charles Kao is a Fellow of both the Academy
and the Society, and his PhD came from study at UCL
under the supervision of Professor Harold Barlow.
The Rank Prize Funds recognized early the seminal
nature of Kao's research, and he won an RPF Award
for Optoelectronics in 1978.
The abilities of Charles
Townes were also acknowledged early in the UK, and
in 1963 he was awarded the Thomas Young Medal of the
Institute of Physics. He was elected an FRS in 1976,
and has many close associations with UK physicists.
The importance of the laser has been signalled by
seven generous prizes for improvements and
applications by the Rank Prize Funds.
The celebrations will be held
at the Royal Academy on June 17th, and both Nobel
Laureates, Charles Kao and Charles Townes will be
present.
Laser History
Professor Charles Kao
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