Election To Hall of Fame and Death
Even though his role in the actual invention of the laser was disputed over decades, Gould was elected to the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 1991. In his acceptance speech he said, "I think it's important to be self-critical. You have to weed out all of the aspects of an idea that aren't going to work, or reject the entire idea in favor of some new idea. You have to be encouraged to try things, even if they don't work."
Gould died of natural causes on September 16, 2005. At the time of his death, Gould's role in the actual invention continued to be disputed in scientific circles. Apart from the dispute, Gould had realized his hope to "be around" when the Brewster's angle window patent expired in May 2005.
Read more about this topic: Gordon Gould
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