Who among the following invented Lasers?

Theodore H. Maiman built and demonstrated the first working laser: a pulsed ruby laser that produced laser light on 16 May 1960, marking the first operational laser device [2]. His ruby-crystal experiment at Hughes Research Laboratories is widely recognized as the inaugural demonstration of laser action (stimulated emission producing a coherent, intense beam) [1]. The other options are historically notable inventors/scientists but unrelated to inventing the laser: Denis Papin is known for the steam digester/early pressure-cooker invention; William T. G. Morton is associated with the development of ether anesthesia; and Francis Crick is famed for elucidating the DNA double-helix structure. Thus Theodore Maiman is the correct inventor of the first operational laser.

Sources

1. [1] https://www.si.edu/object/ruby-crystal-maiman-laser%3Anmah_711120
2. [2] https://press.uchicago.edu/Misc/Chicago/284158_townes.html