Adaptive optics is the most revolutionary breakthrough in astronomy since Galileo pointed his telescope skyward four hundred years ago. It is critical technology that will enable astronomers to answer challenging questions about the universe.
Over the last four decades, a formidable and persistent team of scientists from the Air Force Research Laboratory, MIT/Lincoln Laboratory, and private contractors led the way in achieving groundbreaking advances in adaptive optics. They demonstrated laser guide star techniques and made adaptive optics practical on large telescopes. The military aggressively pursued the development of adaptive optics for two reasons--imaging for space situational awareness and laser weapons. A significant part of this research occurred at the Starfire Optical Range in New Mexico and the Maui optical site in Hawaii. The program remained classified during the 1970s and 1980s, but the government declassified it in the early 1990s, enabling significant technology transfer to the astronomy community.
Robert Duffner has compiled a unique history of the invention of laser guide stars and other contributions to adaptive optics made by the Department of Defense. He had access to a large collection of primary source material housed in the offices of government scientists and in the Research Laboratory's archives at Kirtland Air Force Base, Albuquerque. Duffner also interviewed seventy-one prominent scientists who played key roles advancing adaptive optics research.

The thought of consolidating laboratories was not new. Over the last decade, this idea had grown out of the Packard Commission 's blue-ribbon study (begun in 1985) that looked at ways to operate the Department of Defense (DOD) in a more efficient and economical manner. David Packard, a former undersecretary of defense, headed a high-level team of investigators that focused on four core areas that were candidates for change: national security planning and budgeting, military organization and command, acquisition organization and procedures, and government-industry accountability. Packard 's final report, A Quest for Excellence (released in June 1986), proposed sweeping reforms, including substantial personnel reductions, to improve efficiency and save money in DOD. President Ronald Reagan directed implementation of the Packard Commission 's recommendations in National Security Decision Directive (NSDD) 219, issued on 1 April 1986. The model acquisition-reform plan called for the establishment of "strong centralized policies through highly decentralized management structures."

Robert W. Duffner's Science and Technology: The Making of the Air Force Research Laboratory addresses the far-reaching implications of science and technology by recounting the events that led to the creation of a single Air Force laboratory. This engaging story of how the Air Force moved from 13 separate labs to one consolidated lab reflects that service's determination to reinvigorate its science and technology infrastructure and thereby strengthen the nation's defense for the twenty-first century. Part one considers why the Air Force decided to consolidate its far-flung science and technology enterprise into one lab, while part two relates how the service implemented the new lab. Dr. Duffner offers a unique perspective on a watershed event in the life of the United States Air Force.

Robert W. Duffner's Science and Technology: The Making of the Air Force Research Laboratory addresses the far-reaching implications of science and technology by recounting the events that led to the creation of a single Air Force laboratory. This engaging story of how the Air Force moved from 13 separate labs to one consolidated lab reflects that service's determination to reinvigorate its science and technology infrastructure and thereby strengthen the nation's defense for the twenty-first century. Part one considers why the Air Force decided to consolidate its far-flung science and technology enterprise into one lab, while part two relates how the service implemented the new lab. Dr. Duffner offers a unique perspective on a watershed event in the life of the United States Air Force.