William Brown

Colorado State University Pueblo, United States

Title: From the Past to the Future

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Biography

William E. Brown served as historian for the National Park Service Region for ten years before he came to Alaska in 1975. He later served as key man on the Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve proposal, as well as adjunct history professor for the University of Alaska’s Arctic Environment Information and Data Center and park historian at Gates of the Arctic National Park and Denali National Park.

Abstract

Lighthasbeenanenigmaforeons.Primaryquestionshavebeenwhatisitandwhatareitsproperties.Thisbriefpresentationviewsthehistoryoflightandopticsandacknowledgesthecontributorswhohavemademodernoptics,photonics,andlaserspossible.QuestionsandanswersappearedinancientEgypt,Mesopotamia,Asia,theMiddleEast,Africa,andEurope.Thehistoryisatleastmillennia-longandbeginswithcrudelensesandendswithwaveoptics,lasercommunications,andquantumoptics.Innovativetechnologybreakthroughsarelikelybecauseoftheproductivityofthispast.