Nobel Prize winner illustrates 'optical tweezers'

Record ID: 1358817

  • Title: Nobel Prize winner illustrates 'optical tweezers'
  • Date: 2nd October 2018
  • Summary: RUMSON, NEW JERSEY, UNITED STATES (OCTOBER 2, 2018) (REUTERS) 2018 NOBEL PRIZE WINNER FOR PHYSICS ARTHUR ASHKIN FLIPPING THROUGH BOOK PAGES WHITE FLASH (SOUNDBITE) (English) 2018 NOBEL PRIZE WINNER FOR PHYSICS, ARTHUR ASHKIN, SAYING: "Some guy he said, what was that guy's name? Hanson. He says, 'I'm from the Nobel Committee, you won a Nobel Prize in Physics for optical trapping and manipulation.' He actually used the word optical tweezers. Do you know what optical tweezers are?" WHITE FLASH (SOUNDBITE) (English) 2018 NOBEL PRIZE WINNER FOR PHYSICS, ARTHUR ASHKIN, SAYING: "Here's a picture on the book. This is levitation. There's a lens, there's a laser here, a green laser. It's the prism, comes up here and is focused right at that point. And that's a glass sphere being levitated. Being trapped by the light. The light is holding it. You'd think that light would, if anything, all we do is reheating, but light pushes on things. This is more than pushing it. It bends through the sphere in such a way that it's trapped. This thing is stuck there. If I push this away with another laser and let go, it snaps back and will oscillate. It's in a trap. It's like in a little cup. OK?" WHITE FLASH (SOUNDBITE) (English) 2018 NOBEL PRIZE WINNER FOR PHYSICS, ARTHUR ASHKIN, SAYING: "It was obvious to many, many people that tweezers was a very powerful technique and they've been using it for many years. Especially this guy from, from, Stanford and his students, and he has dozens of students. But they paid no attention to it. So when they finally woke up, I was surprised. And besides they like young people. You have to be alive to win the Nobel Prize." WHITE FLASH ASHKIN LOOKING THROUGH BOOK
  • Embargoed: 16th October 2018 18:01
  • Keywords: Nobel Prize Physics laser technology optical tweezers Arthur Ashkin
  • Location: RUMSON, NEW JERSEY, UNITED STATES
  • City: RUMSON, NEW JERSEY, UNITED STATES
  • Country: USA
  • Topics: Science
  • Reuters ID: LVA00190DKH1J
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Arthur Ashkin, one of the three people to win the 2018 Nobel Prize for Physics on Tuesday (October 2), explained his "optical tweezers" invention.
    Ashkin's work was based on the realization that the pressure of a beam of light could push microscopic objects and trap them in position. A breakthrough came in 1987 when he used the new optical tweezers to grab living bacteria without harming them.
    From his home in Rumson, New Jersey, Ashkin used a large book to explain the process.
    "(The light) bends through the sphere in such a way that it's trapped. This thing is stuck there. If I push this away with another laser and let go, it snaps back and will oscillate. It's in a trap. It's like in a little cup."
    At 96-years-old, Ashkin is the oldest ever Nobel prize winner.
    "I was surprised," he said after learning of his win. "And besides they like young people. You have to be alive to win the Nobel Prize," he mused.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2018. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register