The Nobel Prize in Physics has been awarded to three scientists who studied electrons in flashes of light.The Nobel Prize in Physics 2023 was awarded to French-Hungarian scientist Pierre Agostini, the Austrian-Hungarian Ferenc Krausz and French-Swedish Anne L'Huillier.

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The three researchers received the award for looking at electrons in atoms during the tiniest of split seconds.

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What was the award for?

Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences Secretary General Hans Ellegren said the scientists' work had yielded "experimental methods that generate attosecond pulses of light for the study of electron dynamics in matter."

The scientists "have demonstrated a way to create extremely short pulses of light that can be used to measure the rapid processes in which electrons move or change energy."

The academy said the three had "given humanity new tools for exploring the world of electrons inside atoms and molecules."

It is hoped the work will eventually lead to better electronics and disease diagnosis, as well as a way to understand biological processes such as photosynthesis.

Who are the prize winners?

Agostini is a researcher at Ohio State University in the United States, Krausz at the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics and Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich in Germany, and L'Huillier works at Lund University in Sweden.

"Sorry, I am not very good at speaking but that is because I am very touched at the moment," said L'Huiller, speaking to the committee remotely after the award was announced.

L'Huillier is only the fifth woman to win a Nobel in physics.

The physics prize comes a day after Hungarian-American Katalin Kariko and American Drew Weissman won the Nobel Prize in medicine for work that made possible the creation of mRNA vaccines against COVID-19.

Three scientists jointly won the physics prize last year for proving a once-doubted phenonomon that tiny particles could retain a connection with each other even when separated.

Nobel Prize announcements are set to continue with the chemistry prize on Wednesday, and the literature prize on Thursday. Friday will see the Nobel Peace Prize and the economics award next Monday.

rc/kb (AFP, AP, dpa, Reuters)

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Oct 03, 2023 04:20 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).