Ideas and stumbling blocks in quantum electronics

Quantum electronics, including in particular the maser and the laser, represents a marriage between quantum physics and electrical engineering which was probably longer delayed than it might have been because the two were not sufficiently acquainted. The mutual discovery of one field by the other is discussed, as well as the misunderstandings and false starts. Specific examples are used to make more real the thinking of the early years in this field and the struggles with ideas which, as with most now-understood sciences or technologies, seem much simpler in retrospect.