Three scholars with ties to the University of Rochester received the Nobel Prize in their fields at the 2018 ceremony in Stockholm, Sweden. The Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to both Donna Strickland ’89 (PhD) and her graduate advisor and former senior scientist Gérard Mourou, for work that paved the way for more compact and precise high-intensity laser systems. In addition, Paul Romer, a former assistant professor in the Department of Economics, has been awarded a shared Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences for his work in endogenous growth theory.

Rochester researchers are part of an international collaboration of scientists that has, for the first time, detected extremely high-energy gamma rays from one of the most powerful star systems in the Milky Way.

The Laboratory for Laser Energetics (LLE), the largest university-based laser facility in the world, is partnering with eight other high-intensity laser facilities to form a new national research network called LaserNetUS.

The solar and energy storage system, to be built on the roof of the Goergen Athletic Center, will offset energy needs of a new office building south of Hutchison Hall.

“All the stars, including the sun, are powered by fusion. We are here because of fusion. But fusion is really hard to create,” says E. Michael Campbell, director of the Laboratory for Laser Energetics.

Every time you pick up your smartphone, you are holding a product made possible by a Nobel Prize–winning technology developed at the University of Rochester.

University of Rochester doctoral graduate Donna Strickland ’89 (PhD) and former optics faculty member Gérard Mourou shared the Nobel Prize in Physics today for work they undertook at the University’s Laboratory for Laser Energetics. Their breakthrough paved the way for the creating very short and very intense laser pulses now used in a variety of applications, from LASIK eye surgery to the manufacturing of materials used in cell phones.

“There’s so much to look at, and we’ve done so little of it so far,” Rochester professor of astrophysics Adam Frank told NPR’s All Things Considered.

The Cognitive Sciences Society has presented longtime professor of brain and cognitive sciences Michael K. Tanenhaus with the David E. Rumelhart Prize, recognizing a “significant contribution to the theoretical foundations of human cognition.”

In a new study, Rochester biologists describe some of the unique characteristics of the protein that makes bacterial like E. coli so resilient. Their research may lead to more targeted antibiotics and other drug therapies.