" Charles Townes said...that he was personally inspired to invent the laser after reading the Science Fiction novel The Garin Death Ray, written by Alexei Tolstoi in 1926. It is remarkable to think how powerful a force Science Fiction can be. That fantastic, seemingly impossible ideas can inspire people like Charles Townes to invent hints that totally transform the world. "

― Annie Jacobsen , The Pentagon's Brain: An Uncensored History of DARPA, America's Top-Secret Military Research Agency