It was invented at Hughes Research Laboratories in Malibu, California, where Theodore Maiman operated the first working laser on May 16, 1960.

Key details

• The first successful device was a ruby laser built and demonstrated by Theodore Maiman at Hughes Research Laboratories in Malibu, California on May 16, 1960.

• HRL (formerly Hughes Research Laboratories) is located at 3011 Malibu Canyon Road, Malibu, CA, confirming the site of the invention in Malibu.

• Contemporary retrospectives and histories (including Nature Communications Physics and University of Chicago Press materials) consistently place the first laser’s operation at Hughes’ Malibu labs in 1960.