• Question: How long have lasers been around? Is that how they got the idea for lightsabers in star wars?

    Asked by redcherries to Mike, Pip, Tianfu, Tim, Tom on 26 Jun 2012.
    • Photo: Tim Stephens

      Tim Stephens answered on 26 Jun 2012:

      Lasers were thought of in the early part of the 20th century, and the first one was made in the 1960s. You’d have to ask George Lucas if that’s where he got the idea for light-sabres, but it might just have been that he wanted something even cooler than normal sword fighting in his movies.

    • Photo: Tom Lister

      Tom Lister answered on 26 Jun 2012:

      Since 1960. The first film with it in was probably James Bond’s Goldfinger. The book was written before lasers, and didn’t have this. I think lightsabers definitely came from the idea of lasers.

    • Photo: Philippa Bird

      Philippa Bird answered on 26 Jun 2012:

      Is it possible to build a light saber for real? How would you get the laser to stop?

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