Nobel Prize for Physics: Three winners include first female laureate in 55 years

Donna Strickland is only the third woman to win the prestigious Nobel Prize in physics.

Image: Twitter (@NobelPrize)

New Delhi: Three scientists, Arthur Ashkin from the US, Gerard Mourou from France and Donna Strickland from Canada, were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics on Tuesday for their pioneering inventions in the field of laser physics. The three scientists have been awarded for inventing optical lasers that have paved the way for advanced precision instruments used in corrective eye surgery and in industry. One half of the nine million Swedish Kronor prize which is equivalent to $1.01 million or 870,000 euros is awarded to US’ Arthur Ashkin, while Gerard Mourou and Donna Strickland won the other half jointly. The Nobel Prize body tweeted from its official handle: “The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has decided to award the Nobel Prize in Physics 2018 for groundbreaking inventions in the field of laser physics with one half to Arthur Ashkin and the other half jointly to Gerard Mourou and Donna Strickland.”

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

96-year-old Ashkin received the prize for his invention of optical tweezers that grab particles, atoms, viruses and other living cells with their laser beam fingers. 74-year-old  Mourou and Strickland won the award for their method of generating high-intensity, ultra-short optical pulses, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said in a statement. Donna Strickland is third woman to win the prestigious Nobel Prize in physics. While speaking to Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, Strickland said she was thrilled to receive the prize that has been the least accessible for women. Expressing her delight, she highlighted the need to recognise the women physicists ‘because they are out there’. Strickland is preceded by Marie Curie and Maria Goeppert Mayer. On Monday, two immunologists, James Allison of the US and Tasuku Honjo of Japan, won this year's Nobel Medicine Prize for research into how the body's natural defences can fight cancer. The winners of Nobel Prize for Chemistry will be announced on Wednesday.