Arthur Ashkin

Who was Arthur Ashkin?

Arthur Ashkin (September 2, 1922 – September 21, 2020) was an American scientist and Nobel laureate who worked at Bell Labs. Ashkin has been considered by many as the father of optical tweezers, for which he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics 2018 at age 96, becoming the oldest Nobel laureate until 2019 when John B. Goodenough was awarded at 97. Arthur Ashkin was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1922, to a family of Ukrainian-Jewish background. He had two siblings, a brother, Julius, also a physicist, and a sister, Ruth. The family home was in Brooklyn, New York, at 983 E 27 Street. Ashkin started his work on manipulation of microparticles with laser light in the late 1960s which resulted in the invention of optical tweezers in 1986. He also pioneered the optical trapping process that eventually was used to manipulate atoms, molecules, and biological cells.

The key phenomenon is the radiation pressure of light; this pressure can be dissected down into optical gradient and scattering forces.

Historical significance

His parents were Isadore and Anna Ashkin. One older sibling, Gertrude, died while young.