The Physics Research Building, located at 191 W. Woodruff Avenue. Pierre Agostini, professor emeritus of Ohio State, along with Ferenc Krausz and Anne L’Huillier received the Nobel Prize in physics Tuesday Morning. Credit: Lantern file photo
A professor emeritus of Ohio State, Pierre Agostini, won the 2023 Nobel Prize in Physics for his accomplishments in studying electron dynamics in matter.
Agostini shares the award with Ferenc Krausz from the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics and Anne L’Huillier from Lund University in Sweden, and the three were given the prestigious award Tuesday morning at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm.
The trio received the award for their work producing pulses of light so short that they are measured in attoseconds, one quintillionth of a second. This showed that the pulses can be used to provide images of the inner processes of atoms and molecules, according to the statement released by Ohio State.
Acting President Peter Mohler congratulated Agostini on the award in the release statement.
“The Nobel Prize is the pinnacle of scientific achievement,” Mohler said. “All of us at Ohio State celebrate this recognition of Pierre’s lifetime research and scholarship.”
According to Ohio State’s website, the last Ohio State faculty member to win a Nobel Prize was Kenneth G. Wilson for physics in 1982. Two alumni of the university were also awarded the prize in 1974 and 1983 for chemistry and physics, respectively.
Gov. Mike DeWine also congratulated Agonstini on X, formerly known as Twitter, adding “Ohio is the heart of innovation and research with talented scientists.”
