LASER TURNS 50

ray of light:what was put down as a'parlour trick'is today set to ignite nuclear fusion.And of course it writes your CDs too
This year marks the 50th anniversary of the most portentous events in the history of science:the creation of laser.Like many a transformative development ,it was met initially with thunderous public indifference,although there were a few mutteringsabout'death rays'.Anumber oif techno-pundits regarded the upstart gizmo as basically a parlour trick ,a solution l0ooking for a problem",as Charles Townes ,who won the Nobel Prize for pioneering the idea ,later wrote.
Half a century later ,lasers m,check out our groceries,read and write CDs&DVDs,guide commmercial aircraft ,enable eye surgergy &dental repairs,target weapons,provide worldwide communications,survey the planet,print documents,cut fabric for clothing &metal for toolsmake powerful pointers for PowerPoint slides&are now poised to ignite nuclear fusion,among scores of uses.
Finally ,the beam's coherence makes it stunningly powerful.Alaser drawing a couple of kilowatts(slightly more than your home hair dryer)can cut through an inch of carbon steel .Out in California,researchers at the Department of Energy's National Ignition Facility are about to concentrate192 laser beams totalling 500 trillion watts on a capsule of hydrogen ,the size of a p[encil eraser.If it works ,the power of the lasers wilol shove the hydrogen atoms together hard enough to ignite nuclear fusion,creating a microscopic star and with it ,some people believe ,the prospect of limitless energy for society using the same source that fires up the sun.
On eof these days ,Perhaps.