The Nobel Prize in Physics for 2023 has been conferred upon a pioneering team of three Europeans responsible for developing short light pulses that enable the observation of intricate processes inside matter.
Pierre Agostini and Anne L’Huillier are both from France, while Ferenc Krausz is a Hungarian. Agostini is a professor at the Ohio State University in the United States, and L’Huillier is a professor at Lund University in Sweden. Krausz was born in Hungary and is the Director of the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics in Garching and a professor at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München in Germany.
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences which overseas and gives the award said the trio deserved the awards for their “experimental methods that generate attosecond pulses of light for the study of electron dynamics in matter.”
Their experiments “have given humanity new tools for exploring the world of electrons inside atoms and molecules,” said the academy as they announced the prize on Wednesday.
The three newly-minted Nobel Laureates 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 Academy said.
The Physics prize comes a day after Hungarian-American Katalin Karikó and American Drew Weissman won the Nobel Prize in Medicine for discoveries that enabled the creation of mRNA vaccines against COVID-19.
Nobel announcements will continue with the Chemistry prize on Wednesday and the Literature prize on Thursday – the coveted award that Nigeria’s poet and writer, Wole Soyinka won in 1986.
The Nobel Peace Prize – the top icing of the awards – will be announced on Friday and the Economics award on 9 October.
The prizes carry a cash award of 11 million Swedish kronor each, approximately $1,000,000 or N1 billion (Nigerian Naira) drawn from a bequest left by the prize’s creator, Swedish inventor Alfred Nobel, who died in 1896.
The prize money was raised by 1 million kronor this year because of the plunging value of the Swedish currency.
All the laureates will receive their awards at a ceremony on 10 December, the anniversary of Nobel’s death. The prestigious peace prize is handed out in Oslo, Norway, according to his wishes, while the other award ceremony is held in Stockholm – the capital of Sweden.
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