A 2018 Nobel Laureate in Physics, Prof. Gérard Mourou, was invited by Peking University to give the “21stCentennial Physics Lecture and Nobel Laureate Fellowship Lecture” on October 12, 2018. This lecture was jointly held by the State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs and Peking University, co-organized by the School of Physics Peking University and the Office of International Affairs Peking University.
Prof. Mourou
PKU President Prof. Jianhua Lin Meets with Prof. Mourou
Group Photo
Before the lecture, Prof. Mourou was warmly welcomed by Prof. Jianhua Lin, President of Peking University, at the Yingjie Exchange Center at PKU. The Meeting was accompanied by Prof. Qihuang Gong, Vice President of Peking University, Prof. Yongyun Hu, Vice Dean of the School of Physics, Prof. Yan Li, Vice Dean of the School of Physics, Prof. Xueqing Yan, Vice Director of the Office of Research Peking University and Professor at the School of Physics, Profs. Yunquan Liu and Yunfeng Xiao at the School of Physics, etc.
Prof. Mourou in speech
PKU Vice President Prof. Qihuang Gong presents Prof. Mourou the “Centennial Physics Lecture” Medal
Vice Dean Prof. Yan Li Hosts the Meeting
Prof. Mourou then delivered an exciting speech entitledExtreme Light to ELI and Beyond: Science of High-Energy Single-Cycled Lasersat the Siyuan Hall of the School of Physics Peking University. More than 600 scholars and students from Peking University and other universities and institutions in China attended the lecture. Before the lecture, Prof. Qihuang Gong, Vice President of Peking University, presented the Centennial Physics Lecture Medal to Prof. Mourou. This lecture was hosted by Prof. Yan Li, Vice Dean of the School of Physics.
A Student asks questions
Main Meeting Room Group Photo
After the Lecture
Prof. Mourou’s lecture received many rounds of applause from the audience. After the lecture, the audience raised some interesting questions for Prof. Mourou, who kindly answered them one by one. This lecture will definitely inspire many young scholars and students to find their passion and paths in physics research and to believe, as Prof. Mourou put it in his speech, “the best is yet to come.”
CV of Prof. Mourou (by Wikipedia):
Gérard Albert Mourou, born 22 June 1944, is a French scientist and pioneer in the field of electrical engineering and lasers. He was awarded a Nobel Prize in Physics in 2018, along with Donna Strickland, for the invention of chirped pulse amplification, a technique later used to create ultrashort-pulse, very high-intensity (petawatt) laser pulses. In 1994, Mourou and his team at the University of Michigan discovered that the balance between the self-focusing refraction and self-attenuating diffraction by ionization and rarefaction of a laser beam of terawatt intensities in the atmosphere creates "filaments" which act as waveguides for the beam thus preventing divergence.
