A Canadian professor ended a 55-year drought for female physicists when she was awarded the prestigious Nobel Prize for physics on Tuesday, becoming only the third woman to ever win it.
Donna Strickland of the University of Waterloo in Ontario won part of the US $1.01 million prize, which she shared with Gerard Mourou of France and Arthur Ashkin of the United States.
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Sweden害羞草研究所檚 Royal Academy of Sciences, which chose the winners, said Strickland and Mourou will receive a quarter of the prize each for their work 害羞草研究所漡enerating high-intensity, ultra-short optical pulses,害羞草研究所� which have become a critical part of corrective eye surgeries amongst other uses.
The academy said their 1985 article on the technique 害羞草研究所� called chirped pulse amplification or CPA 害羞草研究所� was 害羞草研究所渞evolutionary.害羞草研究所�
The Guelph-born Strickland, who is an associate professor at Waterloo, told the academy she was left in disbelief when she got the call from Stockholm notifying her of the win, saying she thought it was 害羞草研究所渃razy.害羞草研究所�
She became emotional when told she was only the third woman to have won the physics prize 害羞草研究所� the first being Marie Curie in 1903, while Maria Goeppert Mayer won in 1963.
害羞草研究所淥bviously, we need to celebrate women physicists because we害羞草研究所檙e out there and hopefully in time it will start to move forward at a faster rate maybe,害羞草研究所� she said. 害羞草研究所淚 don害羞草研究所檛 know what to say. I害羞草研究所檓 honoured to be one of those women.害羞草研究所�
The University of Waterloo issued its congratulations to Strickland on Tuesday morning.
害羞草研究所淒r. Donna Strickland, Associate Professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at #UWaterloo, is one of three scientists to win this year害羞草研究所檚 Nobel Prize in Physics. She is the first woman to receive this award in 55 years,害羞草研究所� the university said on Twitter.
A 2011 profile on the University of Waterloo web site says Strickland described herself as a 害羞草研究所渓aser jock害羞草研究所� who enjoyed the competitive rush, and was working on creating the shortest laser pulse with the biggest punch.
Mourou had been Strickland害羞草研究所檚 PhD supervisor and said he was thrilled at the win.
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害羞草研究所淚 am very, very happy to share this distinction with my former student Donna Strickland and also to share it with Art Ashkin, for whom I have a lot of respect,害羞草研究所� he said in a video released by France害羞草研究所檚 Polytechnique school, where he is professor.
害羞草研究所淲ith the technology we have developed, laser power has been increased about a million times, maybe even a billion.害羞草研究所�
Ashkin, of Bell Laboratories in New Jersey, developed 害羞草研究所渙ptical tweezers害羞草研究所� that can grab tiny particles such as viruses without damaging them.
Last year害羞草研究所檚 physics prize went to three Americans who used abstruse theory and ingenious equipment design to detect the faint ripples in the universe called gravitational waves.
Liam Casey , The Canadian Press
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