Re: acronym LASER

[Glenn Malin <gmalin@IUSD.ORG>]

I do not know if the story is true but I do recall hearing it in 1964.
I was in high school at the time and the story teller was demo-ing this
new gadget..the laser.  The story is old enough so there might be some
truth to it.
Glenn Malin
University HS, Irvine CA

> > > larry.smith@SNOW.EDU 07/15/03 14:22 PM >>>
Can anyone verify or refute the following story?  I would think the
MASER
would be a refutation.


At 1:08 PM -0400 7/14/03, Wordsmith wrote:
> --------------------------------
>
> From: J. Ramanand (ramanand_j@persistent.co.in)
> Subject: On acronyms
>
> An interesting (and perhaps apocryphal too) story about the coining of
> "LASER" (for "Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation")
> is that the initial description of this physical concept was to be
"Light
> Oscillation by Stimulated Emission of Radiation".
>
> Why the "oscillation" was replaced by "amplification" is amply clear
from
> the two possible acronyms!
>
> --------------------------------


Thanks,
Larry