About the translation of “LASER”

Writer： DCLaserTech Time：2021-12-02 08:40:33 Browse：811℃

Laser is not a word, but the initials of light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation, literally.

At that time, people translated it as "受激发射光(stimulated emission light)", "激射光辐射放大(laser radiation amplification)", "光量子放大(light quantum amplification)", etc. Some people directly translated it into “镭射”、“莱塞”、“雷射” and so on for the convenience of illustration. Not only hard to pronounce, but also easy to get confused.

 

Later, Qian Xuesen named it "激光(laser)" according to its physical characteristics. The Physical Term Review Committee felt that the word "激光(laser)" had a good sound and meaning. Not only did it know its special characteristics at first sight, it was also catchy.

 

So "激光(laser)" became the standard name of "Laser", which was accepted by the scientific community and all walks of life.

 

The 1989 edition of "Ci Hai" (page 2590) also translated laser into “激光器”.

"激光器: also known as “光激射器”、“莱塞”. A device that uses the principle of stimulated radiation to amplify or oscillate light in certain excited working materials."

 

The word "航天(aerospace)" was also named by Qian Xuesen. Its English original is Space, which was originally translated as "空间(space)", but "空间(space)" feels empty and makes it difficult to connect with space travel. Qian Xuesen was inspired by Chairman Mao’s poem “巡天遥看一千河” and named it "航天(Aerospace)".

 

The word "航天(aerospace)" was quickly accepted by the scientific community. It is intuitive, vivid, and full of poetry. Then he extended the words "航天飞机(space shuttle)" and "航空(aviation)" accordingly, and prepared a good word for us in the future: “航宇(Hangyu)”.

According to Qian Xuesen's explanation, “航空(aviation)” represents fly in the atmosphere, “航天(aerospace)” represents fly in the solar system. In the future, when humans want to go out of the solar system and fly to the Milky Way, they can be called “航宇(Hangyu)”. Although human technology has not yet reached that point, Qian Xuesen knew that this day would come sooner or later, so he was prepared early.

I have gained knowledge again today!