Professor Townes was Professor of Physics and Executive Director of the Columbia Radiation Laboratory at Columbia University; Member of the National Academy of Sciences; Foreign Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences; Vice President and Director of Research of the Institute for Defense Analyses; Provost and Professor of Physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; University Professor at the University of California; Guggenheim Fellow at the University of Paris; Fulbright Lecturer at the University of Tokyo; National Lecturer for Sigma Xi; Director of the Enrico Fermi International School of Physics in Italy; Vice Chairman of the Science Advisory Committee to the President of the U.S.; Chairman of the Advisory Committee for the first human landing on the moon; Chairman of the Defense Department’s Committee on the MX missile; and a member of the boards of directors for General Motors Corporation and Perkins Elmer Corporation.

He was also a recipient of the Templeton Prize on Progress in Religion; David Sarnoff Electronics Award; Rumford Medal from the American Academy of Arts and Sciences; John Carty Award from the National Academy of Science; Young Medal and Prize; Niels Bohr International Medal; National Medal of Science; Frederic Ives Medal; Lomonosov Medal by the Russian Academy of Sciences; Telluride Tech Festival Award of Technology; Vannevar Bush Award for Lifetime Contributions and Statesmanship to Science; and Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from the University of Redlands.

Professor Townes's books include Making Waves, How the Laser Happened: Adventures of a Scientist, and Microwave Spectroscopy (with A.L. Schawlow).