Arguably the most significant invention of the twentieth century, the laser has been the focus of much misconception. While many people may associate lasers with death rays and hostile aliens, most do not realize that the word laser (an acronym for Light Amplification by the Stimulated Emission of Radiation) describes not the beam of light but the machine used to create that beam. The origin and invention of the laser is a subject of much debate. The elements necessary for the invention of the first laser had been around for quite some time; theories of coherence and stimulated emission were discussed in detail by Albert Einstein (1879-1955) in 1917, but they were presented only as hypotheses because, at that time, Einstein did not describe a device that could achieve stimulated emission. This was the case until 1954, when Charles Townes accomplished stimulated emission in microwaves. With proof that stimulated emission...