A century of laser advancements was a highlight of a free community talk by Nobel Prize winner Donna Strickland.

Honoured in 2018 with the Nobel Prize in Physics, the Canadian optical physicist and pioneer of ultrafast and high-intensity lasers presented to more than 200 people Thursday, Sept. 19 in Brock University’s Sean O’Sullivan Theatre as part of the Faculty of Mathematics and Science’s Research Colloquium Series.

Strickland, a Professor at the University of Waterloo, led the audience through a history of laser research and discussed how her own Nobel Prize-winning research with Gérard Mourou resulted in a new understanding of laser-matter interactions that has led to revolutionary laser applications such as eye surgery and micromachining techniques.

She also reflected on the experience of attending the Nobel Prize award ceremony at Stockholm Concert Hall in Sweden and her conversations with Swedish royalty and fellow Nobel Prize laureates.

As part of her visit to Brock, Strickland met with several Brock students, staff and faculty, including Associate Professor of Chemistry Jianbo Gao, who gave her a tour of his Ultrafast Photophysics of Quantum Materials Lab and shared some of the advancements in his own ultrafast laser research.