Early Life and Education
Born in New York City, Gould was the oldest of three sons. Both his parents were Methodists active in their community church, but he himself was an avowed atheist. His father was the founding editor of Scholastic Magazine Publications in New York City. He grew up in Scarsdale, a small suburb of New York, and attended Scarsdale High School. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in physics at Union College, where he became a member of the Sigma Chi Fraternity, and a Master's degree at Yale University, specializing in optics and spectroscopy. Between March 1944 and January 1945 he worked on the Manhattan Project but was dismissed due to his activities as a member of the Communist Political Association. In 1949 Gould went to Columbia University to work on a doctorate in optical and microwave spectroscopy. His doctoral supervisor was Nobel laureate Polykarp Kusch, who guided Gould to develop expertise in the then-new technique of optical pumping. In 1956, Gould proposed using optical pumping to excite a maser, and discussed this idea with the maser's inventor Charles Townes, who was also a professor at Columbia and later won the 1964 Nobel prize for his work on the maser and the laser. Townes gave Gould advice on how to obtain a patent on his innovation, and agreed to act as a witness.
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