The hectic life of a Nobel laureate
For Waterloo prof winner of physics prize, it’s been a whirlwind of calls, emails and even a chat with PM
She’s the most famous woman in Waterloo.
Donna Strickland has been in demand since winning the Nobel Prize in physics Tuesday for groundbreaking work in the field of laser physics.
The 59-year-old associate professor at the University of Waterloo is only the third woman to win the physics prize after Maria GoeppertMayer won in 1963 and Marie Curie in 1903. And is the university’s first Nobel laureate.
Strickland, along with her former PhD supervisor Gérard Mourou, were awarded the prize for developing a laser technique called Chirped Pulse Amplification. Strickland and Mourou first wrote about the technique in 1985.
The technique they developed has been used in a number of different applications, including in corrective laser eye surgeries.
The third person to be awarded the 2018 Nobel Prize in physics was Arthur Ashkin of the United States for developing “optical tweezers” that can grab tiny particles such as viruses without damaging them.
Strickland was born and raised in Guelph. Her mother was an English teacher at her high school — Guelph Collegiate Vocational Institute — and her father was an electrical engineer with General Electric. She has lived in Waterloo for the past 22 years and has taught at the University of Waterloo since 1997.
She is married to Doug Dykaar, an electrical engineer and they have two children.
This interview, conducted at her Waterloo home Wednesday, has been edited and condensed.
What is it like to have the whole world suddenly talking about you?
It’s weird. There is no other way to say it. I even got to speak to the prime minister. Just as I pulled out of the (university’s) parking lot they called me. So I did answer saying, I’m just going to park my car first. So I pulled into the next parking lot to take the PM’s call. He was asking something about how my life has changed and I said, well, obviously you have days like this everyday but it’s very weird for me. And he goes, “No, I don’t talk to Nobel laureate’s everyday.” He was very sweet about that.
How has your life changed since Tuesday?
Well obviously it’s just been crazy, hasn’t it? I have received over 1,000 emails and I’m trying to respond to them today.
Actually I responded to Steve Williamson … he congratulated me. I put his name on the paper when I wrote the (1985) paper, and he took it off. He said, “No he hadn’t done enough.” So I reached out to him and said, “You know, you should have been on the paper. But …”
Where is he now?
He’s in Michigan. He started up his own company.
Have you had a moment to rest since learning of your win?
My husband was very sweet and he contacted … (Andrew) Coppolino, the restaurant critic here in town. And he said, “My wife just won the Nobel Prize, where should I take her out for dinner?” And he suggested Langdon Hall, so we did that.
What was it that got you interested in pursuing a career in the field of physics?
I was very good at math and physics. And that’s all. I can’t do music, art, so there was not a lot of choice for me. I think people should go with their strength and that was my strength. I think growing up I probably thought I would do math at (the University of ) Waterloo. I was a very shy kid and both my best friend and my sister went to Waterloo, and I just thought no I can’t, I can’t go there because I’ll just hang on to them and no one will even know who the heck I am and that’s no way to go through life. And so then I thought well, I’m not going to go to Waterloo … if I’m not going to go to Waterloo why would I do math somewhere else?
McMaster had an engineering physics program and … one of the parts of it was lasers and electro-optics and I just said, “Now doesn’t that sound cool. I just got to do that.”
I read an older story and you referred to yourself as a ‘laser jock’?
That’s just something we all called each other in grad school. I don’t remember thinking it was an odd thing to even think. I’m not the one who came up with it. I think it’s because we thought we were good with our hands. As an experimentalist you need to understand the physics but you also need to be able to actually make something work, and the lasers were very finicky in those days.
There’s been a lot of attention on your position as an associate professor and not a full professor. What has been your response to that.
That I’m very sorry for the university because it’s not their fault. This is what people I don’t think get, a full professor, although it’s a different name, it doesn’t carry necessarily a pay raise and I don’t lose my job (if I don’t apply to be a full professor). So I never filled out the paper work.
It’s all on me. I think people are thinking it’s because I’m a woman, I’m being held back.
I’m just a lazy person. I do what I want to do and that wasn’t worth doing.
You’re now being viewed as a role model.
I find that one hard. Yes. A lot of women will talk about all the problems that they’ve had, and I just haven’t had them and I can’t put myself in their shoes. So, I feel like I can’t really be a role model for people who have struggled that way.
What are you researching now?
I still do much the same thing. I still try to make different types of lasers that other people don’t have.
When do you think life will get back to normal?
Probably a year from now.
How do you feel?
Tired. Really tired.