The Nobel Prize in Physics for 2023 was granted to Pierre Agostini, Ferenc Kraus, and Anne L'Huillier on October 3, 2023. Their outstanding contribution to the field involves the development of experimental techniques enabling the generation of attosecond pulses of light. These pulses have proven invaluable for studying the intricate dynamics of electrons within matter.
Anne L'Huillier's achievement in being honored with this prestigious prize also marks a significant milestone, as she becomes the fifth woman to receive the Nobel Prize in Physics.
In the previous year, in 2022, the Nobel Prize in Physics was jointly bestowed upon Alain Aspect, John Clauser, and Anton Zeilinger. Their groundbreaking experiments in the realm of quantum mechanics laid the foundation for the emerging era of quantum technology. They were recognized for their pioneering work with entangled photons, the establishment of Bell inequalities violation, and their contributions to the nascent field of quantum information science.
Furthermore, in 2021, the Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to Syukuro Manabe, Klaus Hasselmann, and Giorgio Parisi. Their accolade acknowledged their remarkable contributions to the understanding of complex physical systems. Manabe and Hasselmann received half of the prize for their groundbreaking work in physically modeling Earth's climate, quantifying variability, and providing reliable predictions regarding global warming. The other half was awarded to Giorgio Parisi for his discovery of the interplay of disorder and fluctuations in physical systems, spanning from atomic to planetary scales.
Shifting to the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for 2023, it was conferred upon Hungarian American biochemist Katalin Karikó and American physician Drew Weissman. Their exceptional achievements in immunology led to the development of highly effective mRNA vaccines against Covid-19.
Regarding the history of the Nobel Prize in Physics, only five women have received this honor to date: Marie Curie, Maria Goeppert-Mayer, Donna Strickland, Andrea Ghez, and Anne L'Huillier in the years 1903, 1963, 2018, 2020, and 2023, respectively. Notably, Lawrence Bragg remains the youngest laureate in the field, receiving the prize at the age of 25 in 1915. Conversely, Arthur Ashkin, who received the 2018 Physics Nobel at the age of 96, holds the distinction of being the oldest physics laureate in history.