Charles Townes, actor Alan Alda, and the chairman of Intel Corp are among this year’s winners of awards presented by the National Science Board, the governing board of NSF, in recognition of their contributions to science. The honors were presented during a May ceremony in Washington, DC.
Townes, a Nobel laureate considered to be the father of quantum electronics, is the co-recipient of the 2006 Vannevar Bush Award, the NSB’s top honor. A professor in the graduate school at the University of California, Berkeley, Townes received the award “for his notable scientific discoveries and research in the fields of quantum electronics and astrophysics, and [his] distinguished public service influencing federal policies on science and technology issues.” Work by Townes, whom NSB credits with inventing and demonstrating the maser (microwave amplification by stimulated emission of radiation) and its optical counterpart, the laser, kick-started a new generation of modern communications,...
