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Lessons learned: the laser from theory to practice

In September 1959, Theodore Maiman attended the first International Quantum Electronics Conference to present a paper describing an exceptionally compact microwave-emitting ruby maser he had developed at the Hughes Research Laboratories. On May 16, 1960 he succeeded in demonstrating the first working laser, also using ruby, a historic breakthrough that stunned others trying to develop a working laser. Maiman's success, described in my book Beam: The Race to Make the Laser (Oxford, 2005) teaches some important lessons in taking on challenging optical tasks.