The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, April 27, 2001, Page 4, Image 4
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Laser inventor speaks at USC
by Rebecca Whitehead
The Gamecock
The Nobel Prize-winning inventor
of the laser spoke at USC Thursday about
his invention.
Charles Townes spoke to about
100 students and faculty members in the
Coker Life Science Building. Townes, a
Greenville native and professbr at the
University of Califomia-Berkeley, focused
on how he came up with the laser, how
it works and how important it is to follow
through with ideas.
Townes spoke about the interaction
between different sciences. He cautioned
against “channeled, fixed ideas.”
“Many ideas come up and people
pass them by,” he said.
Townes said some of the best ideas
aren’t planned.
“The laser (Light Amplification by
Stimulated Emission of Radiation) came
about in, what you might say, an accidental
way,” he said. “That’s the nature of a new
discovery.”
He began his speech by discussing
the beginning of his Career, after he
obtained his Ph.D. in physics from the
California Institute of Technology. He
said he had wanted to teach, but took a
job with Bell Labs under the advice of
his professors. Jobs were hard to find
because of the Great Depression.
After World War II, Townes said,
there was more room for technological
development.
“After the war, there were
remarkable discoveries and ideas that
came up with backgrounds in
engineering,” he said. “Engineering and
science are very closely related.”
Townes was soon working on ideas
of his own. In 1948, he started work at
Columbia University, where he made the
discovery that the shorter the wavelength,
the stronger the reaction between
molecules. His project was aided by
military funds.
After a few years of trying to perfect
the project and failing, he was told he
was wasting money. Townes used tenure
to keep going, however, and within three
months, the maser (Microwave
Amplification by Stimulated Emission
of Radiation) was invented.
Townes later took a sabbatical to
France, where he collaborated with a
student of his for three months on an
amplifying project. He also visited a
university in Tokyo, where he came across
a colleague from Columbia University.
The two worked together on a patent for
optical masers and communications.
Once his ideas became famous,
Townes said those who used to doubt him
finally began to give him their support,
and one of his former professors
recommended him for his first public
prize.
The ideas kept coming.
In 1957, three years after the maser
was finished, Townes developed a plan
for the laser. His plan was published in
1958 and completed in 1961. He received
his Nobel Prize in 1964.
Townes encouraged his listeners to
work on their dreams and ideas.
“I didn’t have the only idea for
producing stimulated emission,” he said,
referring to a book written in 1924 by a
German physicist containing plans similar
to his own.
Townes foresaw many uses for the
laser, both technological and scientific,
but didn’t predict the use of the laser in
eye suigery and other areas of medicine.
The university desk can be reached at
gamecockudesk@hotmail.com
WUSC holds ‘Moolah for Music’
by Valerie Matchette
The Gamecock
Madonna on WUSC? The Backstreet
Boys on 90.5? Have the DJs at USC’s
campus radio station lost their minds?
WUSC will be suspending its “no Top
40” policy this weekend for its annual
spring fund-raiser, Moolah for Music
Weekend. Listeners will be able to call in
requests for their favorite songs and
participate in events sponsored by the
station. The open format begins today at
noon and ends at midnight Sunday.
Participants pledge money to hear their
requests and can win prizes.
“There’s opportunities to win all kinds
of stuff,” said Camille Watkins, the radio
station’s public affairs director. She said
everyone pledging at least $25 wins a
WUSC T-shirt, and each listener who puts
the station over every $200 mark wins a
prize donated from an area business.
Prizes include gift certificates for
piercings at Body Rites and gifts from the
Joyful Alternative and the Rosewood
Market. Several restaurants also made
donations, including Delaney’s Pub,
Miyabi’s, Rising High, Zorba’s, McAllister's
and Toogie’s. Listeners can even win a
VIP party from Hooters.
The radio station will also give out
concert tickets to see Disturbed, Cold,
David Gray, SR-71 and String Cheese
Incident. The weekend’s grand prize is a
mountain bike from Outspokin’ Bicycles.
The weekend’s activities will begin
today at 11 a.m. on Greene Street in front
of the Russell House. Local bands Bleak
and Loveapple will play, and Domino’s
will provide free pizza every hour. Witkins
advised students to get to the kickoff
quickly because the free pizza goes fast.
The Carolina Alumni Association will
hold a sing-along contest, awarding a Cocky
slinky doll to the winner. According to
Watkins, student oiganizations SHARE
(Sexual Health Awareness and Rape
Education), Carolina Productions and the
Student Office of Drug and Alcohol Abuse
will be involved as well.
Friday night, the Elbow Room will
host its Battle of the Bands finals in an
“unofficial sponsorship” of WUSC.
Competing will be Fling, Hurt Reynolds,
Mass Connection, Science Knows No Sin
and Hot Lava Monster. The show starts
at 9 p.m.
Saturday night, WUSC will hold a
party at the New Brookland Tavern with
bands Quench, Slurr, Mastadon Ho! and
Jack Synister. The concert will begin at 8
p.m. Tickets are $5, but concert-goers can
get a coupon for a dollar off from the Elbow
Room or Manifest Discs and Tapes.
“I highly encourage everybody to
come out for Saturday night,” Watkins
said. She said the music will be eclectic,
with something for everyone.
“It’s gonna be a night to remember.”
Station manager Taylor Marshall
Green said the weekend’s goal is to “make
tons and tons of ducats.” He said he
expected Saturday’s concert to be a huge
success because there are three more bands
this year than there were in last year’s
event.
“We’re expecting big crowds at
both of these events,” Watkins said. She
said this year’s activities would try to
involve the entire Columbia community
and not just USC.
Holly Harper, WUSC graduate
assistant, said the station lias high ambitions
for its fund raising.
“The goal of the weekend is to raise
funds to support the radio station,” Harper
said. “These donations help make it possible
to continue to bring great music to the
airwaves. You give us moolah, we give
you music.”
The university desk can be reached at
gamecockudesk@hotmaiLcoin
Budget
from page 1
I
' could attend the demonstration.
“A lot of the professors are very, very
• excited about it,” Hard said.
This protest is different from previous
protests because it isn’t being run by an
organization, such as Student Government.
“This is involving everyone,” Hard
said.
She complimented SG on the job it
has done protesting the cuts, but said the
events were more formal than this protest.
“They’ve done press conferences, and
they’ve done certain things, but it doesn’t
seem to be working,” she said.
State senators were considering a bill
that would have slashed most universities’
budgets by about 12 percent; however, a
late amendment Thursday changed that
figure to 8.7 percent.
The House passed a budget reducing
the university’s state funding by about 12
percent; Gov. Jim Hodges’ original budget
cut the school’s allocation by 15 percent,
but Hodges lias since pushed a plan he says
would virtually exempt USC from the
cuts.
The cuts are part of an overall
reduction in the state budget, which
legislators must reduce to avoid a $500
million shortfall.
The university desk can be reached at
gamecockudesk@hotmail.com
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