Front side (obverse) of one of the Nobel Prize medals in Physiology or Medicine awarded in 1950 to researchers at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. (ERIK LINDBERG (DESIGNER); JONATHUNDER / WIKIMEDIA COMMONS (PHOTOGRAPHER))

These 5 Women Deserved, And Were Unjustly Denied, A Nobel Prize In Physics

Representation matters. Meet five stellar women in physics who were unjustly denied their place in history.

Nobel season is now over, with another year in the books of celebrating the scientists who pioneered some of the greatest advances in physics, chemistry, medicine and more. This year’s prize in physics, as it is in most years, was monumental. Awarded for the incredible advances made in laser science, 2018’s award celebrates the development of optical tweezersand ultra-short, ultra-powerful laser pulses.

These breakthroughs have enabled countless new scientific and technological ideas to be brought to fruition, including LIGO, artificial guide stars, and lunar laser ranging on the science side and LASIK, laser etching and welding, and barcode readers on the technology side. But all of this has been overshadowed, rightfully so, by one important fact. For only the third time in history, one of the Nobel Prize in Physics’ recipients is a woman: Donna Strickland.

Donna Strickland’s research group at the University of Waterloo. Strickland (back row, 4th from left) becomes just the third woman to be awarded a Nobel Prize in Physics. (ABDULLAH.RAHNAMA / WIKIMEDIA COMMONS)