The Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to three scientists — Pierre Agostini, Ferenc Krausz and Anne L’Huillier — on Tuesday for their experiments that have “have given humanity new tools for exploring the world of electrons inside atoms and molecules.”
Their work, the committee said, concerns “experimental methods that generate attosecond pulses of light for the study of electron dynamics in matter.”
Eva Olsson, the chair of the Nobel Committee for Physics, said at a news conference on Tuesday that attosecond science “allows us to address fundamental questions” such as the time scale of the photoelectric effect for which Albert Einstein received the 1921 Nobel in Physics.
This means, Ms. Olsson said, that in the future scientists will able to develop potential applications in areas including electronics and medicine.
Why did the committee say they were receiving the prize?
“Pierre Agostini, Ferenc Krausz and Anne L’Huillier have demonstrated a way to create extremely short pulses of light that can be used to measure the rapid processes in which electrons move or change energy,” the awarding committee said.
The laureates’ contributions have enabled the investigation of processes so rapid that they were “previously impossible to follow,” it added.
Who received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2022?
The prize went to John Clauser, Alain Aspect and Anton Zeilinger for independent works exploring quantum weirdness.
Who else has received a Nobel Prize in the sciences this year?
On Monday, the prize in Physiology or Medicine went to Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman for a chemical modification to messenger RNA. Their research led to the successful development of the Covid-19 vaccine and saved millions of lives. Dr. Karikó is the 13th woman to win the Nobel Prize in this category.
When will the other Nobel Prizes be announced?
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The Nobel Prize in Chemistry will be awarded on Wednesday by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm. Last year, Carolyn R. Bertozzi, Morten Meldal and K. Barry Sharpless shared the prizes for work on click chemistry.
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The Nobel Prize in Literature will be awarded on Thursday by the Swedish Academy in Stockholm. Last year, Annie Ernaux was given the prize for work that dissected the most humiliating, private and scandalous moments from her past with almost clinical precision.
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The Nobel Peace Prize will be awarded on Friday by the Norwegian Nobel Institute in Oslo. Last year, the prize was shared by Memorial, a Russian organization; the Center for Civil Liberties in Ukraine; and Ales Bialiatski, a jailed Belarusian activist.
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Next week, the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences will be awarded on Monday by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm. Last year, Ben S. Bernanke, Douglas W. Diamond and Philip H. Dybvig shared the prize for work that helped to reshape how the world understands the relationship between banks and financial crises.
All of the prize announcements will also be streamed live by the Nobel Prize organization.
