Ion I. Agârbiceanu
Ion I. Agârbiceanu (6 January 1907 – March 1971) was a Romanian physicist born in Bucium, Alba County in Transylvania. He was the son of the popular writer and devout Catholic Ion Agârbiceanu and his wife Maria.[1]
Agârbiceanu invented the gas laser in 1962, the first major improvement on laser technology since it was overall discovered by Theodore Maiman. Agârbiceanu's laser used a mixture of helium and neon to function. This laser was invented during Agârbiceanu's long tenure as head of the Physics Lab 1 at the Polytechnic Institute of Bucharest, which lasted from 1955 to 1971.[1] He was elected a corresponding member of the Romanian Academy in 1963.[2]
Agârbiceanu died in March 1971, a scant few months after he stopped working for the Polytechnic Institute of Bucharest.[1]
Notes
- (in Romanian) "Ion I. Agârbiceanu (1907–1971): Cercetător și inventator în domeniul luminii polarizate și al laserelor", at the Physics Faculty of the Polytechnic University of Bucharest site
- (in Romanian) Membrii Academiei Române din 1866 până în prezent at the Romanian Academy site