A Canadian physicist has received one of science's highest honours.
Guelph native Donna Strickland, a professor at the University of Waterloo, is one of three winners of this year's Nobel Prize for Physics and collected the award with a big smile in Sweden today.
The Nobel committee says Strickland and French scientist Gerard Mourou will each receive a quarter of the US$1.01 million prize for their joint work on laser physics.
Strickland's win makes her only the third woman to win the Physics prize, and the first Canadian female scientist to do so.
Her prize-winning work was conducted in the early 1980s while she was completing her PhD under Mourou's supervision.
She and Mourou discovered Chirped Pulse Amplification, a technique that underpins today's short-pulse, high-intensity lasers, which have become a key part of corrective eye surgeries.
Our Physics Nobel laureate Donna Strickland about to leave for the @NobelPrize ceremony, together with @UWaterlooPres Feridun Hamdullahpur and @UofR President Richard Feldman @UWaterloo @WaterlooSci pic.twitter.com/V2iS2pjWbJ
— Bob Lemieux (@UWscidean) December 10, 2018
This year’s Nobel Prize in Physics goes to... Arthur Ashkin, Gérard Mourou and Donna Strickland! Watch the laureates collect their #NobelPrize medal and diploma. pic.twitter.com/w24OkEjROl
— The Nobel Prize (@NobelPrize) December 10, 2018
Canada joins the entire world in congratulating Dr. Donna Strickland on her accomplishments and contribution to optical physics as she receives her Nobel Prize in Physics. Today is a momentous day for #WomenInSTEM! #CdnSci #CDNScience #Science #NobelPrize pic.twitter.com/sIJTqw9lpo
— Kirsty Duncan (@KirstyDuncanMP) December 10, 2018
This is #UWaterlooProud pic.twitter.com/5HmDEsptxl
— Kelly McManus (@kellymcmanus) December 10, 2018
