2023-09-28 16:15:39
The Nobel Prize in Physics in 2018, Donna Strickland (Guelph-Canada, 1959), has today received the Gold medal of the Higher Council for Scientific Research (CSIC), the highest distinction granted by this organization, “for his discoveries in the field of optics, which have represented a very important advance, both from a conceptual and applied point of view.”
The highest distinction from the CSIC rewards Strickland’s discoveries in the field of optics and lasers, with important conceptual advances and applications
This professor at the University of Waterloo (Canada), a pioneer in research in the field of lasers, has received this recognition in an event at the CSIC central campus in Madrid chaired by the acting Minister of Science and Innovation, Diana Morantand the president of the CSIC, Heloísa del Pino. The researcher’s candidacy was proposed by the CSIC Women and Science Commission.
Strickland welcomed the presence of so many women in this scientific field before giving her lecture in English entitled Generating high intensity ultrashort optical pulseson the interactions of lasers with matter and the technical developments derived from this research.
The Minister of Science and Innovation, Diana Morant, has thanked him for “explaining how research works with that generosity”, and for his “hunger for continue offering answers to the world” through her work, encouraging the students present at the event to follow in her footsteps: “I am sure that when I was your age I did not dream that I was going to be a Nobel Prize winner.”
Consulted by SINC, Strickland offers this advice to young people who want to develop a scientific career: “You must find out what you like to do and then find a way to do it, because if you love what you do, then you will work hard at it and you will be successful.”
Find out what you like to do and then find a way to do it, because if you love what you do, then you will work hard at it and you will be successful.
Donna Strickland (Nobel Prize in Physics 2018)
For her part, Eloísa del Pino, president of the CSIC, has stressed that who better to receive the institution’s highest distinction, dedicated to recognizing those who “illuminate the path of science”, than “a scientist of light”, whose research has been fundamental, for example, to cure eye diseases.
Strickland’s works have paved the way for multitude of applicationswhich require ultra-short laser pulses, such as making precise cuts in industry and laser refractive surgery in medicine.
In 2018, Donna Strickland became the third woman in history to win the Nobel Prize in Physics. / University of Waterloo
Strickland’s work on ultrashort laser pulses is applied to precise cutting in industry and laser refractive surgery.
Los ultrashort pulse lasers They are also the basis of some diagnostic imaging techniques, multiphoton microscopy, and the so-called second harmonic generation, among others, as the researcher herself explained in her conference.
Throughout his career, Strickland has worked at the National Research Council of Canada, the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and Princeton University (United States). In 1997 she returned to her native country to the University of Waterloo, where she is currently a professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy.
Relationship with the Spanish scientific community
Strickland’s discoveries have had relevance for a large number of CSIC researchers. The letters of support that accompanied this proposal for awarding the medal (from researchers such as Avelino Corma, Susana Marcos, Juan Diego Ania, Pablo Artal, Mª Josefa Yzuel, Pascuala García and Mª Luisa Calvo, among others) reveal the contacts that have maintained over time with research staff in Spain and highlight her collaborative nature and her skills as a scientific communicator.
“Women like her are a great example for thousands of girls and young people who are already building their future in the field of STEAM [ciencia, tecnología, ingeniería, arte y matemáticas] In our country”, has pointed out the acting president of the government, Pedro Sanchezafter meeting with the winner.
Among the personalities who have also received the CSIC Gold Medal are the British scientist Stephen Hawking, which obtained recognition in 1989; the Italian Nobel Rita Levi-Montalcini, in 1990; NASA, distinguished in 1999; the American Nobel Prize Roy Jay Glauber, awarded in 2008; the Colombian neuroscientist Rodolfo Llinás; awarded in 2012, and astrophysics Jocelyn Belldistinguished in 2015.
Fuente: SINC/EFE/CSIC
Rights: Creative Commons.
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