Charles Townes#
| Sadly, this member passed away. | |
| Membership Number: | 1927 |
| Membership type: | FOREIGN |
| Section: | PHYSICS & ENGINEERING SCIENCES |
| Elected: | 1999 |
| Main Country of Residence: | UNITED STATES |
Charles Townes passed away January 27, 2015.
Positions Held
- 1994 Professor in the Graduate School
- 1986 University Professor Emeritus
- since 1967 present University Professor at the University of California
- 1961 - 1965 Provost and Institute Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- 1939 Ph.D. degree in physics at the California Institute of Technology
- 1935 Bachelor of Science in physics and a Bachelor of Arts in modern languages at Furman University
- 1936 Master’s degree in physics at Duke University
Fields of Scholarship
- Radio astronomy and infrared astronomy
- Nuclear and molecular structure
- Quantum electronics
- Microwave spectroscopy
Honours and Awards
- 2006 Vannevar Bush medal
- 29 honorary degrees
- 2005 Templeton Prize
- National Academy of Engineers’ Founders Award
- 1982 National Medal of Science (1982)
- 1964 Nobel Prize (jointly with Nicolay Gennadiyevich Basov and Aleksandr Mikhailovich Prokhorov) "for fundamental work in the field of quantum electronics, which has led to the construction of oscillators and amplifiers based on the maser-laser principle"
