India, Jan. 15 -- In 2018, Professor Donna Strickland was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for her work in high-intensity lasers. Her research has been practically applied in laser eye surgery. But, Strickland writes, scientists shouldn't only be encouraged to do research with practical applications.
Since the announcement that I won the Nobel Prize in physics for chirped pulse amplification, or CPA, there has been a lot of attention on its practical applications.
It is understandable that people want to know how it affects them. But as a scientist, I would hope society would be equally interested in fundamental science. After all, you can't have the applications without the curiosity-driven research behind it. Learning more about scien...