Special Guest Blogger: Gordon Gould

History has seen many great minds who have improved the world with their contributions to mankind but history has also seen many more scumbag charlatans who let others do all the hard work and then swooped in at the last moment to steal their the glory.
Scientists may be boffins and clever-clogs but we are still people and as such we are more than capable of making some pretty boneheaded moves just like the rest of you less cerebral folk and there is no greater example of this than my story, making me one of the most gullible genius to have ever lived.
I started my scientific career contributing to the Manhattan Project which should have earned me enough scientific chops to send me to the top of the profession and it would have if not for my decision to fall in love with and marry a Communist and in 1940's America, Communism was a bit of a no-no.
I was working on a design which would produce a narrow, coherent, intense beam of light which i called Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation, or LASER for short, and recorded my findings in a laboratory notebook complete with diagrams of exactly how the laser would work.
I was keen to get a patent on my invention to stop other scientists from stealing my design but i was told by a lawyer friend that i needed a working prototype to do it so in order to gain access to the funds and materials to build said prototype, i joined a private research company, TRG (Technical Research Group) and the company said they would support my research and set about finding the funds to build the LASER.
They immediately filed for a government grant to develop the laser, and the government then classified my notes and booted me off the project because the whole marrying a Communist thing popped up again and i was fired and blackballed.
With me no longer able to contribute to my own invention, a colleague 'Charles H. Townes' not only took over the project and claimed it's patent, but also published the work without crediting me at all.
I tried to stop Townes from taking credit for my work by filing patents of my own, but again, the communist thing so i had to watch Townes receive the Nobel Prize for Science in 1964 for my Laser invention.
After 30 years of court battles and appeals, my original notebook was unearthed and i did manage to at least gain the royalties and earned $30m but you won't see my name in any science books but it's thanks to me that you are able to read this through the fiber networks that connect us to the internet and the ability to drive your cat crazy with a pointer.