The Nobel prize for physics goes for the invention of better lasers

PHYSICS has a reputation for being intimidating. But while the details can be devilish, the basic ideas are often quite simple. On October 2nd Sweden’s Royal Academy of Science awarded the Nobel prize in physics to a trio of researchers for improving the state of laser physics.One share went to Arthur Ashkin, honouring his invention of optical tweezers. These are tiny laser beams that can be used to hold minuscule objects, such as biological cells, viruses or even individual atoms. They work because—as James Clerk Maxwell suggested in 1862, and Pyotr Lebedev proved in 1900—the photons that make up light carry momentum. This means they exert a pressure on any surface exposed to them.