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Applications in our daily life.
Engineers use lasers to measure distances and altitudes It also uses in some medical processes such as blood vessels, treatment of spots appearing in the skin, treatment of some diseases of the ear and throat, fragmentation of stones, treatment of eye diseases veryaccurately
When the two scientists published the details of their laboratory apparatus in 1957, an international competition began to devise more practical lasers. Schawlow concentrated his research on studying the optical properties of materials that could make different types and more efficient lasers.
In 1961 he became a professor of physics at Stanford University, California. He soon acquired the more informal title on the campus of 'Laser Man'. Students packed his lectures to watch his demonstrations of the new device. A favourite ploy to illustrate the laser's selectivity was to shoot a beam through a transparent balloon to pop a dark, Mickey Mouse balloon inside - without damaging the outer one.
One reason why the Schawlows moved to Stanford was so that their autistic son, Artie, could go to the nearby Peninsula children's centre. In 1981, when Schawlow was in Stockholm receiving his Nobel prize, with Nicolaas Bloembergen, of Harvard University, for their roles in the development of laser spectroscopy, he heard about a technique for treating autism called 'facilitated communication'. The Schawlows tried it with their son and felt it helped. They championed the technique and were largely responsible for introducing it to the United States, where it remains controversial. Later they helped to organise a non-profitmaking corporation, California Vocations, to provide a group home for autistic people.
Schawlow's wife, a musician, mezzo soprano and choral conductor, died in a car accident in 1991. He is survived by their son and two daughters.
Arthur Schawlow, physicist, born May 5, 1921; died April 28, 1999
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