| Summary: | Let us try as much as we can, we shall still unavoidably fail in many things 'The Imitation of Christ', Thomas a Kempis Since the invention of the laser in 1960, a steadily increasing number of applications has been found for this remarkable device. At first it appeared strangely difficult to fmd any obvious applications, and for several years the laser was often referred to as 'a solution in search of a problem'. The unusual properties of laser light were all too obvi ous, and yet it was not clear how they could be put to practical use. More and more ap plications were discovered as the years passed, however, and this attitude slowly changed until by the end of the 1970's there was scarcely an area of science and tech nology in which lasers had not been found application for one purpose or another. To day, lasers are utilised for such diverse purposes as aiming mjssiles and for eye surgery; for monitoring pollution and for checking out goods at supermarkets; for welding and for light-show entertainment. Even within the field of specifically chemical applica tions, the range extends from the detection of atoms at one end of the scale to the syn thesis of vitamin D at the other. In this book, we shall be looking at the impact which the laser has made in the field of chemistry
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