Just recently, the Noble Prize in Physics has been awarded to three scientists for their innovative and ‘groundbreaking inventions in the field of laser physics.’ This is the third time in the history of the award that a woman is being awarded; it took over half a century for that to happen.
Donna Strickland becomes the third woman in the history of Nobel Prize in Physics to win this award. The three winners are:
Donna Strickland – Canada
Gerard Mourou – France
Arthur Ashking – USA
The trio will take home the $998,662.97 award. They were awarded for their use of light to create miniature tools. For instance, Arthur Ashking’s innovation, the ‘optical tweezer’ is a highly focused beam of light that can manipulate living organisms and microscopic objects. The other two developed a way of generating high intensity ultra-short optical pulses.
BREAKING NEWS⁰The 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. pic.twitter.com/PK08SnUslK
— The Nobel Prize (@NobelPrize) October 2, 2018
Strickland, as the third female physics laureate, joins the short list of women to have won the award. The first being Maria Goeppert-Mayer who won the award 55 years ago, for the discoveries she made on the nuclei of atoms. Between the two, is Marie Curie, a famous historical physicist.
“I thought there might have been more but I couldn’t think. Obviously, we need to celebrate women physicists because we’re out there. Hopefully, it will start to move forward at faster rate. I’m honored to be one of those women,” said Strickland during a press conference after being presented with the award. Effectively becoming the third woman to have ever won the prize.
