Yes, it’s all true. After 55 years a woman gets the Nobel Prize for Physics.

Steph P. Bianchini October 2, 2018 6 Comments

Donna Strickland, from Canada, was awarded today the Prize for her outstanding contributions in the field of laser physics.

In case you wonder, Mrs. Strickland is the third woman EVER to get such honour. Before her, only Marie Curie (1903) and Maria Goeppert-Mayer (1963) managed to have their work recognised.

(Credit: The Guardian)

Dr Strickland shares this year’s prize with Arthur Ashkin, from the US, and Gerard Mourou, from France.

“Ashkin, an affiliate of Bell Laboratories in New Jersey, wins half of the prize for his development of “optical tweezers”, a tractor beam-like technology that allows scientists to grab atoms, viruses and bacteria in finger-like laser-beams. The effect was demonstrated by the award committee by levitating a ping pong ball with a hairdryer. Mourou at the École Polytechnique near Paris, and Strickland at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, each receive a quarter of the prize for work that paved the way for the shortest, most intense laser beams ever created. Their technique, named chirped pulse amplification, is now used in laser machining and enables doctors to perform millions of corrective laser eye surgeries every year.” (Read the whole article from the Guardian here).

That’s a fairly good news, considering that many (female) scientists, such as Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell, have been overlooked by Nobel prizes albeit their outstanding contribution to science. Let’s hope this is a trend towards more equality. In the meantime, congratulation, Mrs Strickland!