Dear Vitaliy Yatsenko,

This weekend The Society of SPIE celebrates the 50th anniversary of the operation of the first laser. Theodore Maiman's demonstration of the first laser on 16 May 1960 built on the work of earlier generations from many nations across the globe. The coming of the laser and the international explosion in invention that followed has changed the world. Many in SPIE are working with, and on, lasers to create further advances.

U.S. President Barack Obama offers a Presidential Message celebrating the work of many who contributed to the ubiquity of this marvelous invention. Our Society gratefully acknowledges President Obama's kind congratulatory comments. While he did not presume to speak to those outside the U.S., it is my pleasure as President of an international society to recognize the crucial international contributions to the first laser, which go back to Einstein and others preceding him, resulting from ideas and discoveries by research groups distributed throughout the global scientific enterprise.

The interests of SPIE are inseparably linked to these stirring and powerful inventions, and all humanity has and will continue to benefit from them.

Sincerely, Ralph B.James 2010 SPIE President