Home: Sag Harbor, N.Y.
Degrees: B.S., physics, Union, 1941; M.S., physics, Yale, 1943; M.S., physics, Columbia 1952; Honorary, Union, 1978; Honorary, Polytechnic University of N.Y., 1995
Profession: Retired vice president and chief scientist, Optelecom, Inc.
Early inspiration: Thomas Edison
Latest achievement: Invention and development of tooth crown removal system
Career highlights: Worked on the Manhattan Project, which developed the atomic bomb from 1943-45; invented (and named) the laser in 1957; co-founded Optelecom, Inc., in 1973; won patent rights to the laser in 1985; was involved in half a dozen high-technology enterprises since retiring from Optelecom in 1985;
elected to the National Inventor's Hall of Fame in 1991
Career advice: “Take it seriously.”
Union honors: Awarded honorary doctor of science degree, 1978; received Eliphalet Nott Medal, 1995
Most memorable union moment: Taught physics
classes when a
professor was sick
Faculty member who had the greatest impact: Professor
Frank Studer, who taught a class in optics
Legacy on campus: Established the Gordon
Gould Professorship of Physics in 1995 to honor
physics Professor Studer, who sparked his interest
in the physics of light and inspired a love of optics
that led to Gould's development of the laser
Hobbies: Sailing, bird watching, bridge
Words to live by: (On fighting for three decades
to win patent rights to the laser): “If I had any idea
when I started how long it would take to win,
I would have quit a long time ago.
But throughout the whole fight it always seemed like the light at the end of the
tunnel was just around the corner.”