
The Nobel Prize in Physics for 2018 was awarded “for groundbreaking inventions in the field of laser physics.” The prize was shared with one half going to Arthur Ashkin for the invention and application of optical tweezers, and the other half shared by Gerard Mourou and Donna Strickland for the invention of chirped pulse amplification (CPA) in the field of ultrafast, high intensity lasers. In this talk I will describe the techniques and explore the extraordinary impact they have had on science and technology.