BOOK
One evening in November 1957, Gordon Gould, an eccentric graduate physics student, had a remarkable insight. He sketched his idea in a notebook, had it notarized at a local candy store, and applied for a patent soon afterward. Unfortunately for Gould, in the interim Arthur Schawlow and Charles Townes filed for - and ultimately received - the first patent for light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation. Thus began Gould's 30-year struggle for recognition and a potential fortune in royalties.
As told by Nick Taylor in Laser: The Inventor, the Nobel Laureate, and the Thirty-Year Patent War, the story makes for a ripping yarn. Taylor manages to weave together the scientific workings of lasers, the intricacies of the US patent system, and the strange details of Gordon Gould's quirks and predicaments. In 1958, for example, Gould found himself leading an advanced government research team on lasers for which he couldn't get security clearance. In fact, his team was never permitted to give him feedback on the experiments they conducted. The machinations of this situation, including Gould's affair with the security officer in charge of keeping him distanced from his own project, read like a laugh-out-loud novel by William Gaddis.
Gould's claims quite understandably caused alarm in the laser industry. Companies had been paying Schawlow and Townes royalties for years when Gould came forward. It may not be a coincidence that, shortly after these laser wars, the US patent law was amended to prevent such contentions in the future. Beginning in 1995, patent rights started running from date of application, not award.
The book has a few problems. After a careful and even-handed start, Taylor characterizes Gould as a modern-day David pitted against the various Goliaths of Schawlow and Townes, the US government, and big business. As it happened, there was a real, not a diabolical, legal obstacle to Gould's claim of patent priority: He didn't have a working model of a laser when he submitted his patent application. This wouldn't have been fatal if his description could have walked someone trained in the field through building such a device - but it wasn't clear if this was the case.
Such quibbles aside, Taylor does a great job of pulling together science, law, business, and human drama. There's a great surprise ending, too, even for those already aware of the outcome for Gould.
Laser: The Inventor, the Nobel Laureate, and the Thirty-Year Patent War by Nick Taylor: $27. Simon & Schuster: www.simonsays.com.
STREET CRED
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Invisible Band
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Flash of Recognition
The Bargain Store
Caddie Whack
Six Million Degrees of Separation
ReadMe
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Ring My Bell
Scene Blocking 101
Kiss of the Spider Woman
Just Outta Beta
Underware
Derailing the Thought Train
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