Nobel Prize


In October of 2018, Strickland was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for her work developing "chirped pulse amplification" lasers in 1985. She shared the prize with her doctoral advisor Gerard Mourou, and physicist Arthur Ashkin, who was awarded for his work on optical tweezers. Strickland became the first woman to win the Nobel Prize in Physics in 55 years, the first woman to win the award from Canada, and only the third woman to ever win the award. The other 2 woman were Marie Curie (1903) and Maria Goeppert Mayer (1963). The paper that won the award was only 3 pages long, but it paved the way for the use of lasers in surgery, and to make controlled, micro cuts in machinery. In the photo below, the King of Sweden is presenting Strickland with her award.


Photo From: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/kitchener-waterloo/donna-strickland-nobel-prize-physics-1.4939928