The Invention of Holography
Dennis Gabor developed the principle of holography in 1947 while working to improve electron microscopy. He initially called the method “wavefront reconstruction.” An important correction: holography did not need the laser to exist as a principle; the laser, invented in 1960, provided coherent light and made high-quality optical holograms much more practical. The first successful laser holograms were demonstrated in the early 1960s.
A hologram records an interference pattern between light scattered by an object and a reference beam. When illuminated, the recording reconstructs the wavefront and produces a three-dimensional image that changes with viewing angle. Thus, saying Gabor used lasers in 1947 conflates the original principle with its later practical realization.