In 1956, when John was 13 and Jules was 16, they began relaying communications from the south pole to families and friends in the United States.

[5] While an undergraduate at the California Institute of Technology, he had a discussion where the question came up as to whether or not it was possible to enhance the transition rate for bremsstrahlung through stimulated emission.

He continued thinking about the stimulated emission question while working on his doctoral degree at Stanford, when he invented the free-electron laser.

[citation needed] In the following years, he developed an innovative laser research program which was highly regarded in the scientific community.

During that time the lab continued to achieve success both in securing research funding and in generating scientific breakthroughs.

2002)], the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals on October 3, 2002 effectively ended a 170-year-old practice of allowing scientists to freely borrow patented technologies for limited use in basic research that is not aimed at commercial use.