¡Ý Stimulated Emission, 1997. - Albert Einstein first proposed the process that makes lasers possible called "Stimulated Emission" ¡Ý Holography, 1947. - Gabor developed the theory of holography, that requires laser light for its realization. He received the 1971 Nobel Prize in Physics for this work. ¡Ý Maser, 1954. - The first papers about the maser were published in 1954 as a result of investigation carried out simultaneously and independently by Townes and his co-workers at Columbia University in New York and by Basov and Prokhorov at the Lebedev Institute in Moscow. Their work continued throughout the '60s and the '70s. For this work they were awarded the 1964 Nobel Prize in Physics. ¡Ý Laser, 1958. - The optical maser or the laser dates from 1958, when the possibilities of applying the maser principle in the optical region were analyzed by Schawlow and Townes as well as in the Lebedev Institute. Laser spectroscopy was developed by Schawlow and his co-workers at Standford University and, around the same time, Bloembergen and his co-workers developed nonlinear optics which is a very special application of laser spectroscopy For this they were awarded the 1981 Nobel Prize in Physics. ¡Ý Ruby Laser, 1960. - The first laser was operating in 1960. It was a ruby laser generating strong pulses of red light. ¡Ý Semiconductor, 1963. - Alferov and Kroemer proposed in 1963, independently of each other, the principle for semiconductor heterostructures to be used later in semiconductor laser which today, by far, is the most common laser. For this work they were awarded the 2000 Nobel Prize in Physics. ¡Ý Corning Glass, 1970. - Optic fiber made of corning glass has such low losses that telephone calls and telecommunication can be transferred for kilometers with the help of laser light. ¡Ý Laser cooling, 1980. In the '80s Chu, Cohen Tannoudji and Philips worked with laser cooling of atoms. For this work they were awarded the 1997 Nobel Prize in Physics. ¡Ý 1964. - Townes, Basov and Prokhorov shared the prize for their fundamental work, which led to the construction of lasers. They founded the theory of lasers and described how a laser can be built, originating from a similar appliance for microwaves called the MASER that was introduced during the '50s(The MASER has not been used as much as the laser). However, the first functioning laser was not built by them, but by Maiman in 1960. ¡Ý 1971. - Gabor(alone) was given the prize, having founded the basic ideas of the holographic method, which is a famous and spectacular application of laser technology. At first "just" a method of creating 3-D pictures, it has since become a useful tool for the observation of vibrating objects. Much of what we today know about how musical instruments produce their tones is due to the use of hologram. ¡Ý 1981. - Bloembergen and Schawlow received the prize for their contribution to the development of laser spectroscopy. One typical application of this is nonlinear optics which menas methods of influencing one light beam with another and permanently joining several laser beams(not just mixing them - compare the difference between mixing two substances and making them chemically react with one another). These phenomena mean that a light beam can in principle be steered by another light beam. If in the future someone intends to build an optical computer(that could be much faster and much more efficient in storing data), it would have to be based on a nonlinear optic. ¡Ý 1997. - Chu, Cohen-Tannoudji and Philips et al, received the prize for their developments of methods to cool and trap atoms with laser light which is a method for inducing atoms to relinquish their heat energy to laser light and thus reach lower and lower temperatures. ¡Ý 2000. - Alferov and Kroemer were given the prize for their development within the field of semiconductor physics, where they had studied the type of substances that was first used to build semiconductor lasers, that is, the kind of miniature lasers that today have become the cheapest, lightest, and smallest. The idea is to produce both the light source and energy supply and place the mirrors in one crystal(less than 1mm facet, with many sequences). This has become not only the basis for many cheap and portable appliances, but also the foundation in optical information networks.