Arthur Leonard Schawlow

Arthur Leonard Schawlow (May 5, 1921 – April 28, 1999) was an American physicist who, along with Charles Townes, developed the theoretical basis for laser science. His central insight was the use of two mirrors as the resonant cavity to take maser action from microwaves to visible wavelengths. He shared the 1981 Nobel Prize in Physics with Nicolaas Bloembergen and Kai Siegbahn for his work using lasers to determine atomic energy levels with great precision.

Biography

Arthur Leonard Schawlow was born on May 5, 1921, in Mount Vernon, New York, to a Jewish father from Riga and a Canadian mother. Schawlow was raised in his mother's Protestant religion. When Arthur was three years old, they moved to Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

At the age of 16, Schawlow completed high school at Vaughan Road Collegiate Institute, and received a scholarship in science at the University of Toronto (Victoria College). After earning his undergraduate degree, Schawlow continued in graduate school at the University of Toronto which was interrupted due to World War II. At the end of the war, he began work on his Ph.D. at the University under Professor Malcolm F. Crawford. Schawlow then took a postdoctoral position with Charles Townes in the Physics Department of Columbia University in the fall of 1949.

Schawlow went on to accept a position at Bell Telephone Laboratories in late 1951. He left in 1961 to become Professor of Physics at Stanford University, where he remained until his retirement in 1991.

Although his research focused on optics, in particular lasers and their use in spectroscopy, Schawlow also pursued investigations in the areas of superconductivity and nuclear resonance. Schawlow shared the 1981 Nobel Prize in Physics with Nicolaas Bloembergen and Kai Siegbahn for their contributions to the development of laser spectroscopy.

Schawlow co-authored the widely used text Microwave Spectroscopy (1955) with Charles Townes. Schawlow and Townes were the first to publish the theory of laser design and operation in their seminal 1958 paper on "optical masers", although Gordon Gould is often credited with the "invention" of the laser, due to his unpublished work that predated Schawlow and Townes by a few months. The first working laser was made in 1960 by Theodore Maiman.

Science and religion

Schawlow participated in science and religion discussions. Regarding God, he stated, "I find a need for God in the universe and in my own life."

Personal life

In 1951, Schawlow married Aurelia Townes, the younger sister of Charles Townes. They had three children: Arthur Jr., Helen, and Edith. Arthur Jr. is autistic, with very little speech ability. Aurelia died in 1991 following a vehicle accident.

Schawlow and Professor Robert Hofstadter at Stanford, who also had an autistic child, teamed up to help each other find solutions to the condition. Arthur Jr. was put in a special center for autistic individuals, and later, Schawlow put together an institution to care for people with autism in Paradise, California. It was later named the Arthur Schawlow Center in 1999, shortly before his death. Schawlow was a promoter of the controversial method of facilitated communication with patients of autism.

Schawlow considered himself to be an orthodox Protestant Christian, and attended a Methodist church. Arthur Schawlow was an intense fan and collector of traditional American jazz recordings, as well as a supporter of instrumental groups performing this type of music.

Schawlow died of leukemia on April 28, 1999, in Palo Alto, California, at the age of 77.

Recognition

Awards

Honorary degrees

Memberships

National awards

Commemoration

In 1991, the American Physical Society established the Arthur L. Schawlow Prize in Laser Science. The Prize is awarded annually to "candidates who have made outstanding contributions to basic research using lasers."

Bibliography

• Schawlow, A L (1995), "Principles of lasers", Journal of Clinical Laser Medicine & Surgery, vol. 13, no. 3 (published June 1995), pp. 127–30, doi:, PMID
• Schawlow, AL (1982), "Spectroscopy in a New Light", Science, vol. 217, no. 4554 (published July 2, 1982), pp. 9–16, Bibcode:, doi:, PMID
• Schawlow, AL (1978), "Laser Spectroscopy of Atoms and Molecules", Science, 202 (4364) (published October 13, 1978): 141–147, Bibcode:, doi:, PMID
• McCaul, B W; Schawlow, A L (1969), "Plasma refractive effects in HCN lasers", Ann. N. Y. Acad. Sci., vol. 168, no. 3 (published February 10, 1969), pp. 697–702, Bibcode:, doi:, PMID , S2CID
• Schawlow, A L (1966), "Lasers", International Ophthalmology Clinics, vol. 6, no. 2, pp. 241–51, doi:, PMID

See also

• Optical Society of America#Past Presidents of the OSA
• List of Jewish Nobel laureates

Notes

External links

• on Nobelprize.org including the Nobel Lecture, December 8, 1981 Spectroscopy in a New Light
• 2012-10-03 at the Wayback Machine