Quotes from Donna Strickland

But I don't see myself as a woman in science. I see myself as a scientist.

In high school, I was very good in math and physics. I wasn't good at much of anything else. Some people are good at a lot of things. I don't know how they choose what to do.

I feel that women should start to get to be recognized more because for some reason not all men want to recognize us or not all people, but I think that's a minority. I think the majority of people are ready.

We proved that we could increase laser intensity by orders of magnitude. In fact, CPA led to the most intense laser pulses ever recorded. Our findings changed the world's understanding of how atoms interact with high-intensity light.

My PhD project was actually doing something that required a high-intensity laser. It was supposed to work in a way that many, many photons of light would interact with an atom all at the same time.

My parents were definitely the biggest influence in my life.

What the ultrafast laser does is that because it doesn't have to just cut from the surface, it's only at the intense focal point that it does this damage where the electrons come off the atoms, you could actually put your laser and scan it over your cornea and it would cut underneath that.

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.