Arthur Ashkin (September 2, 1922 – September 21, 2020) was an American scientist andNobel laureate who worked atBell Labs. Ashkin has been considered by many as the father ofoptical tweezers,[1][2][3]for which he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics 2018 at age 96, becoming the oldest Nobel laureate until 2019 whenJohn B. Goodenough was awarded at 97. He resided inRumson, New Jersey.[4]
Ashkin started his work on manipulation of microparticles with laser light in the late 1960s which resulted in the invention ofoptical tweezers in 1986. He also pioneered the optical trapping process that eventually was used to manipulate atoms, molecules, and biological cells. The key phenomenon is theradiation pressure of light; this pressure can be dissected down into optical gradient and scattering forces.
Arthur Ashkin was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1922, to a family ofUkrainian-Jewish background.[5][6][7][8] His parents were Isadore and Anna Ashkin. He had two siblings, a brother,Julius, also a physicist, and a sister, Ruth. One older sibling, Gertrude, died while young. The family home was in Brooklyn, New York, at 983 E 27 Street. Isadore (né Aschkinase)[9] had emigrated to the United States fromOdesa (thenRussian Empire, nowUkraine), at the age of 18.[9] Anna, five years younger, also came from today's Ukraine, thenGalicia,Austro-Hungarian Empire.[10][11][12][13] Within a decade of his landing in New York, Isadore had become a U.S. citizen and was running a dental laboratory at 139 Delancey Street in Manhattan.[14]
Ashkin graduated from Brooklyn'sJames Madison High School in 1940.[17] He then attendedColumbia University and was also a technician for Columbia's Radiation Lab tasked with buildingmagnetrons for U.S. military radar systems. He joined the U.S. Army reserves on July 31, 1945.[18] He continued working in the Columbia University lab. During this period by Ashkin's own account, threeNobel laureates were in attendance.[1][19]
Ashkin finished his course work and obtained hisBS degree in physics at Columbia University in 1947. He then attendedCornell University, where he studiednuclear physics. This was during the era of theManhattan Project, and Ashkin's brother,Julius Ashkin, was successfully part of it. This led to Arthur Ashkin's introduction toHans Bethe,Richard Feynman and others who were at Cornell at the time.[1][19]
He received his PhD degree atCornell University in 1952,[20] and then went to work forBell Labs at the request and recommendation of Sidney Millman, who was Ashkin's supervisor at Columbia University.[21]
Recent advances in physics and biology using optical micromanipulation include achievement ofBose–Einstein condensation in atomic vapors at submillikelvin temperatures, demonstration of atom lasers, and detailed measurements on individual motor molecules.[1][2]
Ashkin's work formed the basis forSteven Chu's work on cooling and trapping atoms, which earned Chu the 1997 Nobel Prize inphysics.[1][2]
On October 2, 2018, Arthur Ashkin was awarded a Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on optical trapping.[25] Ashkin "was honoured for his invention of 'optical tweezers' that grab particles, atoms, viruses and other living cells with their laser beam fingers. With this he was able to use the radiation pressure of light to move physical objects, 'an old dream of science fiction', the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said."[26] He was awarded half of the Prize while the other half was shared betweenGérard Mourou andDonna Strickland for their work onchirped-pulse amplification,[27] a technique "now used in laser machining [that] enables doctors to perform millions of corrective laser eye surgeries every year".[28]
^Bjorkholm, John E. (2010). "Talk for the Arthur Ashkin Honorary Symposium: The Man and His Science".Frontiers in Optics 2010/Laser Science XXVI. Washington, D.C.: OSA.doi:10.1364/fio.2010.stud1.
^"United States Census, 1930", index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/X7X3-3YLArchived May 4, 2016, at theWayback Machine : accessed December 23, 2013), Isadore Ashkin, Brooklyn (Districts 1251–1500), Kings, New York, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) 1261, sheet , family 298, NARA microfilm publication.
^"United States World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917–1918", index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/KXY5-7XYArchived May 4, 2016, at theWayback Machine : accessed December 23, 2013), Isadore Ashkin, 1917–1918; citing New York City no 86, New York, United States, NARA microfilm publication M1509, (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d); FHL microfilm 001765586.
^"United States Census, 1920", index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/MJRV-1VWArchived May 4, 2016, at theWayback Machine : accessed December 23, 2013), Isdor Ashkin, Brooklyn Assembly District 18, Kings, New York, United States; citing sheet, family 342, NARA microfilm publication T625, FHL microfilm 1821173.
^"Index Record for Arthur Ashkin WWII Army Enlistment Records", (Army Serial Number 32977486),Fold3 by Ancestry.com website. Retrieved November 8, 2020.
^abcBell Labs – Murray Hill (November 1997)."He Wrote the Book on Atom Trapping". Lucent Technologies 2002. Archived fromthe original on April 11, 2005. RetrievedAugust 13, 2013.Retired Bell Labs scientist Arthur Ashkin discusses his years as a physicist and how he discovered that light could trap atoms – the discovery that led Steven Chu and two others to the Nobel Prize
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