In another question here I asked for help in finding old Russian papers in physi

Question

In another question here I asked for help in finding old Russian papers in physics and as an example I gave the founding papers on the laser by Basov and Prokhorov (from 1945 and 1954). In an answer @voix was so kind as to post this link http://www.lebedev.ru/data/50laser/Beginning_of_the_Laser_Era_in_the_USSR.pdf with a collection of some of the founding papers that have shaped the area of quantum electronics and, in particular, the idea of the laser. In this collection I found with astonishment that it was not Basov and Prokhorov, neither was it Townes who discovered the laser but the discovery of reverse absorption which is at the basis of the laser action is in fact due to V. A. Fabrikant in 1939, years before the ones I have always known to be the discoverers and who got the Nobel prize for it. Fabrikant even has a 1951 patent and a diploma No. 12 for a discovery in USSR regarding the phenomenon of reverse absorption.The astonishing fact is that Basov and Prokhorov do not even cite Fabrikant in their 1954 paper. Neither do Townes et al in their 1954 paper. What phenomenon, different from what Fabrikant has discovered did Basov, Prokhorov and Townes find to deserve all the credit for the discovery of the laser and have Fabrikant sent to obscurity?

Explanation / Answer

Actually V. A. Fabricant was given credit for his laser idea by both Dr. Charles Townes, scientist/inventor of the first working maser and by Dr. Ted Maiman, scientist/inventor of the first working laser. I happen to be writing a book about Maiman, hence my interest in addressing myself to this question. On Pg 61 of Townes autobiography, "How the Laser Happened", he mentions Fabrikant's "rather obscure thesis (his doctoral) . . . however, he was not able to achieve any amplification (coherent or stimulated), and his work was quickly forgotten. After our own maser idea was revealed, Fabrikant claimed a patentable version, dated June 18, 1951. That patent claim was published in 1959, but I learned that Soviet law allowed patents to be rewritten and backdated. Fabrikant was definitely working on relevant concepts as early as 1939, but unfortunately he did not get very far and no one picked up his work as being particularly interesting."

Maiman in his autobio, "The Laser Odyssey", Pg. 57, is less critical and kinder that his rival Townes: "Although Fabricant was not successful in achieving coherent light, his analytical and experimental work preceded the demonstration of any other stimulated emission device." -Rod Waters

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