Abstract
Orazio Svelto 1982 New York: Plenum xv + 375 pp price $29.50
In an intriguing introductory quotation from Pliny the Elder we are told that the Laser (a wild plant) was well known during the Graeco–Roman civilisation for its many useful properties. During the early 1960s, by contrast, the laser (a tame acronym) was described as a solution in search of a problem.