various laser technologies. The question of just how to assign credit for inventing the laser remains unresolved by historians.

By 1970, TRG had been bought by Control Data Corporation, which had little interest in lasers and was disposing of that part of the business. Gould was able to buy back his patent rights for a thousand dollars, plus a small fraction of any future profits. In 1973, Gould left the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn to help found Optelecom,