Three Researchers in Electrodynamics Win Nobel Physics Prize... Opening the Era of 'One Hundred Quadrillionth of a Second' (Summary)

The 2023 Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to Pierre Agostini, Professor at Ohio State University, USA; Ferenc Krausz, Professor at the Max Planck Institute for Quantum Optics, Germany; and Anne L'Huillier, Professor at Lund University, Sweden (from left).
(Photo by Yonhap News)

The 2023 Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to Pierre Agostini (70), Ferenc Krausz (61), and Anne L'Huillier (65) for inventing an experimental method that allows observation of the movement of electrons inside atoms.

The Nobel Committee of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced on the 3rd (local time) that these three individuals would receive the Nobel Prize in Physics.

They were recognized for their contributions related to "an experimental method for generating attosecond (one hundred quintillionth of a second) pulse light for the study of electron dynamics in matter."

Agostini is affiliated with Ohio State University in the United States, Krausz with the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics in Germany, and L'Huillier with Lund University in Sweden.

The Nobel Committee explained, "These three have been recognized for their experimental work that has provided humanity with new tools to explore the world of electrons inside atoms and molecules."

In the world of electrons, changes occur within a few zero-point attoseconds, making observation with ordinary light impossible.

However, by discovering a method to generate light with extremely short wavelengths, they enabled the measurement of processes where electrons move or energy levels change, opening a new era in microscopic world research.

The laureates will receive a prize of 11 million kronor (approximately 1.35 billion KRW). The prize money will be equally divided among the three recipients.

The previous day, Katalin Karik?, a professor at the University of Szeged in Hungary, and Drew Weissman, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in the United States, who contributed to the development of the COVID-19 messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccine, received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.

The Nobel Committee plans to announce the Chemistry Prize on the 4th, the Literature Prize on the 5th, the Peace Prize on the 6th, and the Economics Prize on the 9th, following the Physics Prize announcement.

The Nobel Prize award ceremonies will be held during "Nobel Week," which includes the anniversary of Alfred Nobel's death on December 10, in Stockholm, Sweden (for Physiology or Medicine, Physics, Chemistry, Literature, and Economics) and Oslo, Norway (for Peace).

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.