“The 2018 Nobel Lecture in Physics: Optical Tweezers, ”Arthur Ashkin, Bell Laboratories, emeritus

The 2018 Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded "for groundbreaking inventions in the field of laser physics" with one half to Arthur Ashkin "for the optical tweezers and their application to biological systems.” Ashkin, now 96 and the oldest physicist to receive the prize, will deliver his Nobel Lecture at the Wheeler Opera House. Dr. Ashkin’s “tools made of light” have revolutionized laser physics. Extremely small objects and incredibly fast processes now appear in a new light. Not only physics, but also chemistry, biology and medicine have gained precision instruments for use in basic research and practical applications. Ashkin’s invention was fundamental to the establishment of the modern field of Single Molecule Biophysics.