Gary Starkweather

American scientist

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July 16, 2026

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Gary Starkweather was an American scientist who played a pivotal role in the development of the laser printer. While working at Xerox in the 1960s, Starkweather conceived the idea of using lasers in copiers, realizing that a laser could replace a copier's traditional light source and also function as a printer. This innovation allowed for the printing of any image displayed on a computer screen, a concept known as "what you see is what you get" (WYSIWYG). Although Xerox initially saw no immediate need for this technology, Starkweather was transferred to PARC (Palo Alto Research Center) in 1971, where a working prototype was developed by early 1972. Xerox eventually brought the laser printer to market in 1977, and it became a successful product.1

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PARC
Early PARC innovations
…a technology developed by PARC’s Gary Starkweather, epitomizes the poor communication between the research laboratory and corporate headquarters that resulted in Xerox’s inability to capitalize on PARC innovations. Starkweather, a researcher at Xerox in the mid-1960s, had an idea to use lasers in Xerox’s copiers. Starkweather realized that short exposures,…
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…a technology developed by PARC’s Gary Starkweather, epitomizes the poor communication between the research laboratory and corporate headquarters that resulted in Xerox’s inability to capitalize on PARC innovations. Starkweather, a researcher at Xerox in the mid-1960s, had an idea to use lasers in Xerox’s copiers. Starkweather realized that short exposures,…
Read More