Basov, Nikolai Gennadievich

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Basov, Nikolai Gennadievich (1922–2001) Soviet physicist who developed the maser, which amplifies microwaves, and the laser, which amplifies light. For these contributions, Basov and his co-worker Aleksandr Prokhorov shared the 1964 Nobel Prize in physics with the US physicist Charles Townes (who had made similar discoveries independently).

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