Oldest Nobel laureate

The oldest nobel laureate is Arthur Ashkin (USA, b. 2 September 1922), who was aged 96 years 31 days when he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics (jointly with Donna Strickland and Gérard Mourou) on 3 October 2018.

The 2018 Nobel Prize for Physics was awarded to three pioneers in the field of laser technology. Ashkin's share of the prize was awarded for his work on the development of "optical tweezers", a technique that uses focused lasers to capture and move small particles and even the components of living cells without damaging them. Donna Strickland and Gérard Mourou were honoured for their work in developing Chirped Pulse Amplification (CPA), a technique which allows a massive increase in the effective power of lasers. This made modern innovations such as laser machining tools and laser surgery possible.