---
title: The History and Future of Lasers
description: "The discoveries & inventions that led to the first working LASER is a fascinating journey. The latest laser research will lead to high-powered weaponry as well as more peaceful innovations: speeding up computers by 1 million times their current capability & finally achieving nuclear fusion power."
---

[Fluid Systems Engineering & Management Blog | Swagelok NorCal ](https://northerncal.swagelok.com/blog)

# [The History and Future of Lasers](https://northerncal.swagelok.com/blog/the-history-and-future-of-lasers)

 Written by [Jeff Hopkins](https://northerncal.swagelok.com/blog/author/jeff-hopkins) | 8/9/18 8:00 PM

### Take a quick tour through the main events that led to the development of the laser and look at some future applications for lasers

Building on the discoveries of Max Planck, Albert Einstein, Dennis Gabor, and stemming partly from Gabor’s invention of the hologram, the discoveries and inventions that led to the first working **LASER (Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation)** in 1960 is a long, fascinating journey.

As soon as the first working lasers were developed, myriad applications were devised, from eye surgery to other medical devices to telecommunications, internet data transmission, holography, and bar-code scanners, while higher-powered lasers had other medical and even military applications. The latest laser research will lead to high-powered weaponry as well as more peaceful innovations such as speeding up computers by one million times their current capability and finally achieving nuclear fusion power.  

[Read the full article in Interesting Engineering for the full story →](https://interestingengineering.com/the-history-of-laser-technology-and-what-it-can-do-today)

[View full post](https://northerncal.swagelok.com/blog/the-history-and-future-of-lasers)

```json
{
  "@context" : "http://schema.org",
  "@type" : "BlogPosting",
  "author" : {
    "@type" : "Person",
    "name" : "Jeff Hopkins"
  },
  "dateModified" : "2018-08-09T20:15:06.620Z",
  "datePublished" : "2018-08-09T20:00:00Z",
  "headline" : "The History and Future of Lasers",
  "image" : {
    "@type" : "ImageObject",
    "height" : 627,
    "url" : "https://northerncal.swagelok.com/hubfs/future-and-history-of-lasers.png",
    "width" : 1200
  },
  "mainEntityOfPage" : "https://northerncal.swagelok.com/blog/the-history-and-future-of-lasers",
  "publisher" : {
    "@type" : "Organization",
    "logo" : {
      "@type" : "ImageObject",
      "height" : 60,
      "url" : "/hs/hsstatic/content_shared_assets/static-1.4092/img/default-amp-logo.png",
      "width" : 60
    },
    "name" : "Swagelok Northern California Blog"
  }
}
```