3 scientists win the Nobel Prize in Physics: NPR

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Three people share the Nobel Prize for physics this year. They are honored for, quote, "groundbreaking inventions in the field of laser physics". Two of the three worked together. One was working autonomously. One of them is a woman, the first to receive a Nobel Prize in physics for decades. Geoff Brumfiel from NPR is here.

Geoff, hello.

GEOFF BRUMFIEL, BYLINE: Hello.

INSKEEP: OK. Gérard Mourou, a French scientist, and Donna Strickland, a Canadian, who did much of their work at the University of Rochester. What is this job?

BRUMFIEL: They did something that called pulsed amplification. This technique allows you to take a pulse of laser light and make it more powerful. And that was a real problem early in the development of the laser. You know, lasers were developed decades ago. But then they became more and more brilliant, and then they got stuck. And this technique really allowed them to become even brighter. And that helped them to find many applications.

INSKEEP: OK. And we will talk about applications in a moment. But I want to ask how important it is to see Strickland – to see his name associated with the Nobel Prize in Physics.

BRUMFIEL: This is only the third Nobel prize in physics awarded to a woman for 115 years.

INSKEEP: Wow.

BRUMFIEL: The last date of 1963. Donna Strickland was questioned about this at the press conference. And even she seemed a little surprised by this fact.

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UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: You are the third woman to receive the Nobel Prize in Physics.

DONNA STRICKLAND: That's all? Really?

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: What is your comment on this?

STRICKLAND: Well, okay. I thought there might be more, but I could not think.

INSKEEP: (laughs)

BRUMFIEL: But – that's right.

INSKEEP: Yeah, you would think.

BRUMFIEL: There were only two others, in 1963 and 1903. And there were many good physicists who were widely considered to have been forgotten for the prize.

INSKEEP: Does this suggest progress for women physicists?

BRUMFIEL: I would say it's more like the Nobel Prize is trying to stay relevant. In the field of basic sciences in particular, Internet entrepreneurs, somehow our new era, have begun to give their own prices. This year, one of these awards was awarded to a woman named Jocelyn Bell Burnell, who had herself been neglected for a Nobel Prize. This price was $ 3 million. The Nobels are just for about a million.

INSKEEP: Oh.

BRUMFIEL: So you know, I think the Nobel laureates are falling behind, and they recognize that.

INSKEEP: It's really interesting.

D & # 39; AGREEMENT. There is a third Nobel laureate. His name is Arthur Ashkin – Bell Labs in New Jersey, where he did most of his work. Optical tweezers is the phrase before my eyes here. What are optical tweezers?

BRUMFIEL: Actually, they look exactly like this He uses lasers, which are lightweight, to hold physical objects – objects.

INSKEEP: Wow.

BRUMFIEL: And it works, believe it or not. The light can exert a little pressure. And so, if you tune the lasers just right, you can handle very, very small things.

INSKEEP: Very small particles when working on things.

BRUMFIEL: Individual atoms, even.

INSKEEP: Wow. And what are the practical applications of the work of these three people?

BRUMFIEL: Well, optical tweezers are used in various applications to move around small biological molecules – proteins, DNA, etc. And also, in physics, it is used quite widely. And then lasers, the main form of public use – the most common use is laser eye surgery.

INSKEEP: Oh.

BRUMFIEL: pulse pulse amplification is used in laser eye surgery …

INSKEEP: Wow.

BRUMFIEL: … to this day.

INSKEEP: has changed the lives of many people in recent years.

BRUMFIEL: Unfortunately, not mine.

INSKEEP: OK.

BRUMFIEL: I always wear the glasses.

INSKEEP: OK. D & # 39; agreement.

Geoff, thank you very much for your 20/20 vision of the Nobel Prize in Physics. I appreciate that.

BRUMFIEL: No problem.

INSKEEP: Geoff Brumfiel of NPR.

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