2023-10-07 11:30:00
AFP
Pierre Agostini, Nobel Prize winner in physics, “regrets” having had to leave France
French scientist Pierre Agostini, winner of the 2023 Nobel Prize in Physics, “regrets” having been forced to retire in France around twenty years ago, when he was “still full of energy”, and to leave for the United States to continue working. This specialist in attosecond science – a billionth of a billionth of a second – was more than surprised to be awarded the most prestigious award on Tuesday, alongside the Franco-Swedish Anne L’Huillier and the Austro-Hungarian Ferenc Krausz. “I learned regarding it from my daughter,” said Pierre Agostini, 82, who returned to live in France on Thursday. Shortly following the Nobel announcement in Stockholm, Tuesday midday, “she called me to ask me if it was true that I had received it!” “At first it was a surprise, I “I didn’t believe it much. I ended up believing it when a member of the Nobel committee called me in the followingnoon,” said the scientist with the false air of Einstein, in jeans, sneakers and t- shirt of the James Webb space telescope, during an interview with AFP in his Parisian apartment. What will his Nobel Prize change? “That’s going to mean a lot of traveling for me in the coming year,” he responds modestly. “I will already have to go to Stockholm for the award ceremony in December, and perhaps even before, to celebrate in Ohio.” It is in fact in the United States that the physicist ended his career , as a professor in the physics department of Ohio State University. But he spent most of his career in France, at the CEA (Atomic Energy Commission). It was there that, in 2002, he carried out a decisive experiment to probe the ultra-fast dynamics of electrons. At that time, he was not tempted to go to the United States since it was Europe which was “at the center of this research.” – “Heartache to leave” – But at 61, he was retired. “If we had enough years of contributions, we would leave, certainly with a bonus, but we would still leave. I received a letter saying ‘thank you and goodbye’.” We had no choice at the time – now you can stay until you’re 70.” “I regretted it a lot because I was still full of energy. I had everything I needed in France, access to cutting-edge equipment and experiments…. It hurt my heart to have to leave.” He tried to join the CNRS, worked there for a few months, but quickly stops in view of the “administrative difficulties”. He then leaves France and goes to “work out” at Laval University in Quebec, the Netherlands, Germany…And ends up finding, in 2005 , a position at Ohio University thanks to a “professor friend.” “There, things were very easy, there were no administrative problems. They managed to get a green card… I am very grateful to them.” Pierre Agostini taught there for a dozen years, before retiring in 2017 and returning to France. But as professor emeritus, he still has his office in Ohio, and continues to follow the work of students there. He hopes that his Nobel will “motivate students” and boost research so that his specialty, ultra-rapid science, leads to applications , particularly in medicine.The Holy Grail? Make it even shorter than the attosecond (10 to the power -18 seconds). “The absolute limit being 10 to the power -43, the inverse of the total energy of the Universe.”juc /alu/sp
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