Theodore Maiman, who built the first working laser, passed away on 5 May aged 79. Maiman made his breakthrough in 1960 by generating pulses of coherent light from a fingertip-sized lump of ruby ...

Light's shadow: Researchers showed that a laser beam can sometimes act like a solid object and cast a shadow that is visible to the naked eye. In the picture, the shadow appears as the horizontal line ...

1960: Physicist Theodore Maiman uses a synthetic-ruby crystal to create the first laser. Maiman began tinkering with electronic devices in his teens and even earned college money repairing appliances ...

Dr. Theodore Maiman studies a ruby crystal in the shape of a cube in a laser. Photo courtesy Bettman/Corbis View Slideshow __1960: __Physicist Theodore Maiman uses a synthetic-ruby crystal to create ...