It was strange, in a way, because there were no ideas involved in the laser that weren't already known by somebody 25 years before lasers were discovered. The ideas were all there; just, nobody put it together. — Charles H. Townes Copy Share Image
I was very eager to produce an oscillator for short waves. I was doing science with microwaves, and I would get down to a few millimetres in wavelength, but I wanted to get shorter wavelengths; I wanted to get into… — Charles H. Townes Copy Share Image
“One has ideas, does experiments, meets people, seeks advice, calls old friends, runs into unexpected remarks, meets new people with new ideas, and in… — Charles H. Townes Copy Share Image
Science is exploration. The fundamental nature of exploration is that we don't know what's there. We can guess and hope and aim to find… — Charles H. Townes Copy Share Image
I was brought up as Christian, and while my ideas have changed, I have always felt myself religiously oriented. — Charles H. Townes Copy Share Image
I knew I wanted to be a scientist. Which kind of scientist was the question. — Charles H. Townes Copy Share Image
I don't think that science is complete at all. We don't understand everything, and one can see, within science itself, there are many inconsistencies.… — Charles H. Townes Copy Share Image
Science has faith. We make postulates. We can't prove those postulates, but we have faith in them. — Charles H. Townes Copy Share Image
There is some truth to the idea that, in the fields of science, individual contributions of great significance are possible. — Charles H. Townes Copy Share Image
One of the things my family taught me - I think very important in religion and science - is that you must be ready… — Charles H. Townes Copy Share Image
It was strange, in a way, because there were no ideas involved in the laser that weren't already known by somebody 25 years before… — Charles H. Townes Copy Share Image
I was very eager to produce an oscillator for short waves. I was doing science with microwaves, and I would get down to a… — Charles H. Townes Copy Share Image
Alfred Nobel really understood very well the necessary supra-natural character of the human enterprise. — Charles H. Townes Copy Share Image
