25 Facts About Arthur Ashkin

Arthur Ashkin was an American scientist and Nobel laureate who worked at Bell Labs.

Arthur Ashkin pioneered the optical trapping process that eventually was used to manipulate atoms, molecules, and biological cells.

Arthur Ashkin was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1922, to a family of Ukrainian-Jewish background.

Arthur Ashkin had two siblings, a brother, Julius, a physicist, and a sister, Ruth.

Arthur Ashkin met his wife, Aline, at Cornell University, and they were married for over 60 years with three children and five grandchildren.

Arthur Ashkin was a chemistry teacher at Holmdel High School, and their son Michael Ashkin, is an art professor at Cornell University.

Arthur Ashkin graduated from Brooklyn's James Madison High School in 1940.

Arthur Ashkin then attended Columbia University and was a technician for Columbia's Radiation Lab tasked with building magnetrons for US military radar systems.

Arthur Ashkin joined the US Army reserves on July 31,1945.

Arthur Ashkin finished his course work and obtained his BS degree in physics at Columbia University in 1947.

Arthur Ashkin then attended Cornell University, where he studied nuclear physics.

Arthur Ashkin received his PhD degree at Cornell University in 1952, and then went to work for Bell Labs at the request and recommendation of Sidney Millman, who was Ashkin's supervisor at Columbia University.

At Bell Labs, Arthur Ashkin worked in the microwave field until about 1960 to 1961, and then switched to laser research.

Arthur Ashkin received the Charles Hard Townes Medal in 1988 and the Frederic Ives Medal in 1998, both from The Optical Society.

Arthur Ashkin was later named an Honorary Member of the organization.

Arthur Ashkin retired from Bell Labs in 1992 after a 40-year career during which he contributed to many areas of experimental physics.

Arthur Ashkin authored many research papers over the years and held 47 patents.

Arthur Ashkin was recipient of the Joseph F Keithley Award For Advances in Measurement Science in 2003 and the Harvey Prize in 2004.

Arthur Ashkin was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 1984 and to the National Academy of Sciences in 1996.

Arthur Ashkin was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2013.

Besides optical tweezers, Arthur Ashkin is known for his studies in photorefraction, second harmonic generation, and non-linear optics in fibers.

Arthur Ashkin's work formed the basis for Steven Chu's work on cooling and trapping atoms, which earned Chu the 1997 Nobel Prize in physics.

On October 2,2018, Arthur Ashkin was awarded a Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on optical trapping.

At 96, Ashkin was the oldest Nobel Prize laureate to be awarded the prize, until John B Goodenough received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2019 at the age of 97.

Arthur Ashkin died on September 21,2020, at the age of 98.