Three scientists from the United States, France and Canada have been awarded the Nobel Prize in physics for advances in laser physics. The Swedish Royal Academy of Sciences on Tuesday awarded half the 9-million-kronor ($1.01 million) prize to Arthur Ashkin of the United States and the other half will be shared by Gerard Mourou of France and Canada's Donna Strickland. The academy says Ashkin developed "optical tweezers" that can grab tiny particles such as viruses without damaging them. The awarding of the Nobel Prize in physics to Strickland has ended a drought for women winning any of the prestigious prizes. Strickland is the first woman to be named a Nobel laureate since 2015. She is also only the third to have won the physics prize — the first was Marie Curie in 1903. [http://time.com/5412361/nobel-physics-2018-laser/]

We will discuss the significance of the discovery and the role of women in physics in an informal setting. The fact that Strickland's Wikipedia page has only appeared today is telling. It took a Nobel prize for Donna Strickland to be noticed enough to have a (short) Wikipedia page written about her. Another example of how womens' contributions to science go unnoticed and uncelebrated. [www.theguardian.com]