First, You Explore: The Story of the Young Charles Townes (Young Palmetto Books)

Haynie, Rachel; Haynie, Douglas E.

ISBN 10: 1611173442 / ISBN 13: 9781611173444

Published by University of South Carolina Press, 2014

About this Item

Book is in Good condition with little to no wear. Pages are free of markings.

Seller Inventory # 59WS4H000GAK_ns

Bibliographic Details

• Title: First, You Explore: The Story of the Young Charles Townes (Young Palmetto Books)
• Publisher: University of South Carolina Press
• Publication Date: 2014
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1611173442
• ISBN 13: 9781611173444
• Binding: Soft cover
• Illustrator: Cook, Trahern
• Condition: good

About this title

Synopsis

An inspirational biography of the Nobel Prize–winning inventor of the laser

"Do exploration. Do things that are new and different."

This is the philosophy that Charles H. Townes has lived by since he was a young boy growing up on a small farm in Greenville, South Carolina. While tending to chores, exploring the outdoors, and tinkering with broken tools and equipment, Townes began what became a lifelong love of exploring and inventing. His passion for new things drove him to an amazing career of discoveries that have changed the world.

All of us have been affected by Townes's work, especially his most famous contribution to science: the laser. We're surrounded by lasers, and we may not even realize it: they are in computers, DVD players, atomic clocks, and barcode scanners at the grocery store checkout counter. Doctors, police, astronomers, and even Hollywood filmmakers use lasers regularly in their work. This extraordinary technology was made possible by Townes's hard work and dedication to the "new and different," winning him the Nobel Prize in physics in 1964.

In First, You Explore, the first biography of Townes, Rachel Haynie chronicles the scientist's boyhood fascination with the physical world and his early reading, experiments, and exploration of his surroundings on his family's farm. Now at age ninety-eight, Townes is still actively involved in science and education, serving as a guiding force for the planetarium and observatory at the South Carolina State Museum.

This inspirational biography includes a timeline of Charles Townes's major life events and additional biographical information that parents and educators will find useful as teaching tools.

About the Author

South Carolina native Rachel Haynie is a freelance writer and editor for regional publications and corporate communications. She holds a bachelor's degree in English and a master's degree in education from the University of South Carolina.

Trahern Cook is a professional illustrator for print media and children's publications. A graduate of the South Carolina Governor's School for the Arts and the Ringling College of Art and Design in Sarasota, Florida, Cook maintains a studio on his family farm in Columbia, South Carolina.