Lasers used to be measured by Gillette Razor Blades!

This sounds a little ridiculous, but the power of a laser when it was first being seriously developed in the 1950’s was measured in the number of Gillette razor blades it could penetrate! The term laser is an acronym for “Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation, and it is a tool that gives off light through the amplification of photons. 

The idea for a laser was first set forward by Albert Einstein in the early 1900’s and was later developed throughout the century. When the technology began to mature, the scientists developing the laser were unsure exactly how to measure it, and decided the best way to measure the strength was by the number of razor blades it could penetrate.