Skip to content
EntityQ546175· pop 30· linked from 47 articles

Gordon Gould

Sign in to save

Also known as Richard Gordon Gould

American physicist and inventor (1920–2005)

Person · Open Library

Works
2

Top works

  • Becoming a fisher of men
  • Becoming a fisher of men
  • Alaska, a frontier for Christian action

via Open Library + Wikidata

Listeners · Last.fm

Listeners
2
Total plays
25

<a href="https://www.last.fm/music/Gordon+Gould">Read more on Last.fm</a>

via Last.fm · Gordon Gould

Key facts

Born
Richard Gordon Gould , ( 1920-07-17 ) July 17, 1920, New York City
Died
September 16, 2005 (2005-09-16) (aged 85), New York City
Alma mater
Union College, New York ( BS ), Yale University ( MS ), Columbia University ( PhD )
Known for
Laser , patent law
Fields
Physics
Institutions
NYU Poly

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Instance of
human
Given name
Gordon
Family name
Gould
Gender
male
Citizenship
United States
Place of birth
Manhattan
Place of death
Lenox Hill Hospital
Languages spoken
English language
Religion
atheism
Student of
Polykarp Kusch
Image
Gordongould2 (cropped).JPG
Show 5 more facts
date of death
2005-09-16
date of birth
1920-07-17
interested in
laser
on focus list of Wikimedia project
Wikipedia:Vital articles/Level/4
Commons category
Gordon Gould
Sources (5)

via Wikidata · CC0

~13 min read

Encyclopedic overview

Richard Gordon Gould (July 17, 1920 – September 16, 2005) was an American physicist who is sometimes credited with the invention of the laser and the optical amplifier. (Credit for the invention of the laser is disputed, since Charles Townes and Arthur Schawlow were the first to publish the theory and Theodore Maiman was the first to build a working laser). Gould is best known for his thirty-year fight with the United States Patent and Trademark Office to obtain patents for the laser and related technologies. He also fought with laser manufacturers in court battles to enforce the patents he subsequently did obtain.

Early life and education

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Gordon Gould” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.