First Laser Ignites: Theodore Maiman Sparks a New Era
Theodore Maiman fires a pulse of red light from his ruby crystal, instantly proving that coherent light could exist outside theory and launching the modern era of photonics. This breakthrough directly enabled technologies like fiber-optic internet, laser surgery, and barcode scanners that define daily life today.
May 16, 1960
66 years ago
Key Figures & Places
laser
Wikipedia
Theodore Maiman
Wikipedia
optics
Wikipedia
Hughes Research Laboratories
Wikipedia
Malibu, California
Wikipedia
optical laser
Wikipedia
ruby laser
Wikipedia
Theodore Maiman
Wikipedia
Laser
Wikipedia
Ruby laser
Wikipedia
HRL Laboratories
Wikipedia
Malibu, California
Wikipedia
California
Wikipedia
United States
Wikipedia
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Wikipedia
Douglas MacArthur
Wikipedia
Philippines
Wikipedia
What Else Happened on May 16
A grandmother in exile just handed her teenage grandson the Roman Empire. Julia Maesa didn't accept banishment quietly—the new emperor Macrinus thought sending …
Suzaku was twenty-nine and already done. The youngest emperor to abdicate in two centuries, he'd spent thirteen years watching his own health crumble while cour…
Baldwin IX of Flanders ascended the throne in Constantinople, establishing the Latin Empire after the Fourth Crusade dismantled the Byzantine capital. This coro…
The commoner who couldn't read French beat France's enemies using a French army. Bertrand du Guesclin—Breton, illiterate, called the ugliest man in the kingdom—…
The Shan governor who conquered the Burmans called himself king by the name they'd given his homeland's mosquitoes. Thado Minsaw—"Royal Mosquito"—rode down from…
The teenagers did it. When Charles V's army sacked Rome in May 1527, the Medici pope was suddenly powerless, and Florence's young radicals seized the moment. Th…
Talk to History
Have a conversation with historical figures who witnessed this era. Ask questions, explore perspectives, and bring history to life.