This prestigious prize recognizes groundbreaking contributions that significantly advance our understanding of the physical universe. The citation accompanying the award highlights Corkum’s synthesis of plasma physics, strong-field spectroscopy and electron scattering concepts to create a new field of strong-field physics, which spans atomic to solid-state physics.
Pushing boundaries to capture the infinitely small
While at the Joint Attosecond Science Laboratory (JASLab), which later brought together NRC and uOttawa researchers, Corkum and his JASLab colleagues were responsible for taking a photo of an electron orbiting an atom. The technology developed for doing so uses extremely short pulses of light and a special camera to capture images of infinitely small particles.
“To give you a sense of how short the pulses are, comparing one attosecond to one second is like comparing one second to the age of the universe,” says Corkum.
“To give you a sense of how short the pulses are, comparing one attosecond to one second is like comparing one second to the age of the universe.”
Pofessor Paul Corkum
— Physics researcher at the University of Ottawa
“Professor Corkum is truly among the brightest minds of our time,” says Interim Vice-President, Research and Innovation Julie St-Pierre. “His groundbreaking achievements, passion for discovery and dedication to mentoring future scientists have made an extraordinary impact. We are proud to have him on our faculty and wish him continued success in pushing the boundaries of knowledge.”
“Professor Corkum is truly among the brightest minds of our time. His groundbreaking achievements, passion for discovery and dedication to mentoring future scientists have made an extraordinary impact...”
Julie St-Pierre
— Interim Vice-President, Research and Innovation
Revolutionizing physics with attosecond science
Corkum’s research in laser technology began in the 1990s. This research, a sub-area of photonics, brings physicists closer to controlling the movements of electrons inside molecules. This could lead to advances in telecommunications, computing, engineering and medicine.
“His breakthroughs in attosecond science have laid the foundation for the next generation of research in this field. This prestigious recognition is a testament to an illustrious researcher whose thirst for understanding has had a significant impact on the world around us,” says University of Ottawa President and Vice-Chancellor Jacques Frémont.
“Because of their precision, lasers are used in a variety of applications in different fields,” says Corkum. “We’ve now got a laser technique to start doing laser physics of cells – we might do laser medicine on cells. I think laser diagnostics is a very exciting area to examine.”
“This prestigious recognition is a testament to an illustrious researcher whose thirst for understanding has had a significant impact on the world around us.”
Jacques Frémont
— University of Ottawa President and Vice-Chancellor
Key player in the Advanced Research Complex
Corkum, along with geoscientist Ian Clark, gave a healthy jump-start to the development of the University of Ottawa’s Advanced Research Complex (ARC) by applying for and receiving more than $26 million in funding from the Canada Foundation for Innovation and the Ontario Research Fund.
Together, their grants provided the vital seed funding needed to build the research hub.
Corkum is also co-director of the Max Planck-University of Ottawa Centre for Extreme and Quantum Photonics. The centre links two of the world’s foremost research teams in the field of photonics and is only the third Max Planck Centre in North America.
Professor Corkum’s other major scientific honours include:
The Wolf Prize in Physics from the Wolf Foundation in Israel, 2022
The Royal Medal from the Royal Society of the United Kingdom, 2022
Foreign member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 2016
Lomonosov Gold Medal of the Russian Academy of Sciences, (for outstanding
contributions to ultrafast physics), 2015
Thomson Reuters Citation Laureate, 2015
Harvey Prize, The Technion, Israel Institute of Technology, 2013
King Faisal International Prize for Science (Physics), 2013
Foreign Member of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, 2012
Fellow of the Optical Society of America, 2010
Foreign member of US Academy of Sciences, 2009
Officer of the Order of Canada, 2007
Fellow of the American Physical Society, 2007
The Killam Prize for Physical Sciences, Canada Council for the Arts, 2006
Arthur L. Schawlow Prize in Laser Science, American Physical Society, 2006
Charles Hard Townes Award, Optical Society of America, 2005
Fellow of the Royal Society (of London), 2005
Fellow of the Institute of Physics, 2002
Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, 1996
