Charles Townes, the maser, and the relationship between engineeringand science

Charles Townes is renowned as the inventor of the maser and for his work on molecular spectroscopy and astronomy. Engineering has been an important element of his career, which illustrates how fruitful a combination of scientific and engineering knowledge can be. The author describes the life and work of Townes and how he developed microwave spectroscopy and the maser, and his interest in astronomy