I remember Charles Townes. My Dad thought very highly of him: he was wildly creative in what he built, and also things he just thought of building. Many decades

I remember Charles Townes. My Dad thought very highly of him: he was wildly creative in what he built, and also things he just thought of building. Many decades ago when my older brother graduated from optometry school, my brother was unhappy to hear my Dad talking effusively about an idea Townes had for building a vending machine like device to produce both eye prescriptions and glasses.