Laser standards: Historical past, challenging future Available to Purchase

I am truly honored to be invited to this international meeting on lasers. I realize I have been asked to say something historical, and that makes me an ancient relic of sorts-but I am more than pleased to assume a father image. In approaching my task, it is important that I know something about my audience. So I need your help. Tell me, by show of hands, how long it has been since the time each of you first became acquainted with lasers. How many of you first became acquainted with lasers in 1910 or 1920? 1930 or 1940? 1950? 1960? 1970? 1980? This year (1990)? Thank you for your cooperation. This is an audience of relatively young people with alert, sharp minds, who probably have limited capacity for historical reflections and want to get on with the cutting edge present day perspectives. So what we will endeavor to do this morning is to cull out from my experience something of what I have learned from my association with lasers and the process of setting a standard that permits people to reap the benefits of new technologies without producing detrimental effects on their health and safety. This talk presents a little background of events leading to my personal experiences and lessons I have learned in the U.S. and international scenes to establish a consensus standard on laser safety. And, I will finish with an opinion as to what is important for our future efforts.