Jewish Physicist Becomes Oldest Person To Win Nobel Prize
A Jewish physicist is one of three scientists awarded the 2018 Nobel Prize in Physics for the invention of revolutionary laser tools, the Guardian reported.
In 1986, Arthur Ashkin invented “optical tweezers,” a tractor beam-like technology that grabs viruses, bacteria and other living cells with finger-like lasers. Now, at 96, he’s the oldest person to be named a laureate for any of the Nobel awards, according to The Times of Israel.
The inventions created by Ashkin and his co-honorees Gérard Mourou of France and Donna Strickland of Canada have paved the way for more advanced tools used for corrective eye surgery, The Times reported.
Ashkin won half of the nine million Swedish kronor (about $1 million) prize, with Mourou and Strickland sharing the other half.
BREAKING NEWS⁰The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has decided to award the #NobelPrize in Physics 2018 “for groundbreaking inventions in the field of laser physics” with one half to Arthur Ashkin and the other half jointly to Gérard Mourou and Donna Strickland. pic.twitter.com/PK08SnUslK
— The Nobel Prize (@NobelPrize) October 2, 2018
Alyssa Fisher is a news writer at the Forward. Email her at [email protected], or follow her on Twitter at @alyssalfisher
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.
If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO