Nobel Prize in Physics Recipient. Dr. Nikolai Basov received recognition as a Russian scientist, who shared the 1964 Nobel Prize i n Physics with Alexander Prokhorov, another Russian scientist and Charles Townes, an American scientist, who worked independently from the Russian scientists. According to the Nobel Prize Committee, "The Nobel Prize for physics is in this year given for the invention of the maser and the laser. "Maser" stands for "microwave amplification by stimulated emission of radiation," and the word "laser" is obtained by replacing "microwave" by "light." Their discovery was an essential part in making the microwave, corrective laser eye surgery, computer printers, the scanning of bar codes used by the cashier at the grocery store and many other everyday uses as well as more complex uses. Born the son of a professor at the Voronezh Forest Institute, he finished local schools before attending Kuibyshev Military Medical Academy from 1941 to 1943. During World War II, he served in the Red Army as a physician's assistant at the Ukrainian Front. After the war, he entered the Moscow Institute of Physical Engineer, where he studied theoretical and experimental physics. From 1950 to 1953, he studied for his doctorate and t he higher degree of Doktor nauk was awarded to him in 1956 for the theory and experimental realization of the maser, while working with Dr. Prochorov. In 1962 Basov was elected a corresponding member of Soviet Union Academy of Sciences, and in 1966 a full member. He served as director of the P.N. Lebedev Physical Institute from 1973 to 1988. In 1970 he was the recipient of Hero of Socialist Labor, the highest Soviet Union award for economy and culture. Dr. Basov was a member of the Soviet Committee of the Defense of Peace and a member of the World Peace Council. He was the Editor-in-chief of the Soviet scientific journals "Priroda" and "Kvantovaya Elektronika" and is a member of the Editorial Board of "Il Nuovo Cimento."