The laser men who shaped the modern world

In 1964, Prokhorov and Basov won the Nobel Prize for theirwork in designing the modern laser. Even today many leading scientists regardthis as one of the pre-eminent achievements of the twentieth century.

The Head of the Quantum Radiophysics Department from theLebedev Institute Oleg Krokhin is fully adamant in his praise of the two men:

“I must say that the prize won by Prokhorov and Basov is oneof the most important achievements of the past century. Out of a hundred NobelPrizes awarded, their prize can be ranked among the top ten, because whenspeaking of scientific achievements of the past century, the quantumradiophysics relating to their work is ranked as one of the best.”

The pair worked at Moscow'sLebedev Institute throughout the 1950s looking at ways of exciting andcontrolling microwaves, creating a maser that used a pulsing energy source. Thesame principle would be crucial to making functional lasers.

In 1958 they began to explore laser technology and two yearslater the first laser was built. The pair were driven men who literally neverreally put their work to bed.

“I witnessed the birth of ideas. He worked really hard,sometimes it would be at his desk, in puffs of smoke, sometimes he would jumpup in bed in the middle of the night, jot something down, something that he sawin his dream, apparently! Sometimes ideas would come to him from the mostunlikely places,” says Lydia Basova, the legendary physicist’s widow.

Both Basov and Prokhorov spent the later years of theircareer working with the Soviet Army – producing weapons and targeting devicesthat would become ubiquitous in modern warfare. Today the technology theyinvented is all around us – from heavy manufacturing such as car production tokeyhole surgeries that can remove gallstones and tumours without large invasiveprocedures.

“The laser is a unique thing, so naturally it is used inhigh-tech areas. There is no other way to work on the nanoscale, for example,other than with a laser beam, because it is an instrument that allows us toprocess nano objects. It is used to disperse particles in scientific research.There is a saying – ‘If you are doing something and can't get it done, it meansyou need a laser’,” says Sergey Gorny, Director of the Moscow Laser Centre.

They are even used to create interactive 3-D maps that helparchitects redesign tomorrow's world. They are two men who have changed thevery way we live our lives.

Prokhorov and Basov enjoyed long and distinguished careerswith high points across many disciplines of science and technological discovery,but it is for their pioneering work in helping to discover the laser thatscience and the world at large will remain forever grateful for.