April 10, 2006, Greenville, SC--A new $60 million science complex at Furman University will be named for Dr. Charles H. Townes, a 1935 graduate of the university and a current member of the Furman Board of Trustees.
The new science complex will be called the Charles H. Townes Center for Science and that a large library room in the center of the complex will be named for Dr. Townes wife, Frances Brown Townes. A bronze statue of Dr. Townes on South Main Street in Greenville has also been unveiled.
The Charles H. Townes Center for Science will feature the construction of two new buildings and the renovation of Plyler Hall, the university's existing science building. It will house the departments of Biology, Chemistry, Earth and Environmental Sciences, and Physics. The complex, which Dr. Townes helped design, will include the departments of Mathematics and Computer Science in existing Richard W. Riley Hall. Construction will begin this spring and end in the fall of 2008.
The 90-year-old Townes was awarded the Nobel Prize for his contributions to the invention of the laser and maser. His foundational research opened the door for a vast array of inventions and discoveries now in common use throughout the world, which includes everything from DVD players to LASIK eye surgery.