| Posted: Oct 02, 2018 | |
Nobel Prize in Physics 2018 for optical tweezers(Nanowerk News) The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has decided to award the NobelPrize in Physics 2018 “for groundbreaking inventions in the field of laser physics” with one half to Arthur Ashkin and the other half jointly to Gérard Mourou and Donna Strickland. |
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| Arthur Ashkin, an American physicist has been awarded half the prize for his invention of optical tweezers and their application to biological systems. His amazing tool has helped to reach the old dream of grabing particles, atoms, viruses and other living cells. The optical tweezers work with the radiation pressure of light to hold and move tiny object and are widely used to study the machinery of life. | |
| French physicist Gérard Mourou and Canadian physicist Donna Strickland share the other half for their method of generating ultra-short and very intense optical pulses. Ultra-sharp laser beams have made possible to cut or drill holes in various materials extremely precisely – even in living matter. The technique this duo pioneered is called chirped pulse amplification or CPA and it has led to corrective eye surgeries for millions of people. | |
| Donna Strickland, at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, is only the third female physics laureate and the first woman in 55 years to win the prize. | |
| “We need to celebrate women physicists because we’re out there, and hopefully in time it’ll start to move forward at a faster rate. I’m honoured to be one of those women,” Strickland said in a telephone interview with the committee. | |
| Arthur Ashkin, Gerard Mourou and Donna Strickland will share the nine million kronor (£770,686; $998,618; €870.000) prize. |
| Source: Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences | |
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