Ali Javan passed away last Monday aged 89. Dr. Javan was professor of physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. A native of Iran, later a U.S. citizen, he received a Ph.D. in physics from Columbia University in 1954. While a member of the technical staff of the Bell Telephone Laboratories, he invented the gas laser, producing the very first continuous coherent light. He was also a pioneer in the field of optical frequency combs which led to the eventual redefinition of the second, and is used in everyday TV synchronization, GPS, and optical atomic clocks having an ultimate uncertainty of one part in a quintillion (10^18).
Ali Javan is survived by his wife, Marjorie, and by their two daughters, Maia and Lila.
Ted Maiman (inventor of Ruby laser) and Ali Javan receiving medallions from President Johnson honoring their work.
"Ye look aloft when ye long for exaltation; and I look downward because I am exalted. Who among you can at the same time laugh and be exalted? He who climbeth on the highest mountains" F.N. Thus Spoke Zarathustra
:cryyy:
Ali Javan is survived by his wife, Marjorie, and by their two daughters, Maia and Lila.
Ted Maiman (inventor of Ruby laser) and Ali Javan receiving medallions from President Johnson honoring their work.
"Ye look aloft when ye long for exaltation; and I look downward because I am exalted. Who among you can at the same time laugh and be exalted? He who climbeth on the highest mountains" F.N. Thus Spoke Zarathustra
:cryyy:
