Sao Carlos (SP)
Brazilian physicist Anderson Gomes from UFPE (Federal University of Pernambuco) was not very surprised when he learned that his former colleague, Frenchwoman Anne L’Huillier, had won the 2023 Nobel Prize in her field.
“Looking back, it is clear that she already knew very well where she wanted to go not in the sense of being a Nobel laureate, because that is very difficult to plan, but in the determination to deeply dominate this area,” says Gomes, who is between He worked with Anne in the late 1980s and early 1990s and published several studies with her. It was precisely at this time that the researcher began to master the technique that ultimately earned her the award this year.
Gomes and L’Huillier lived together at the ParisSaclay Nuclear Research Center, a facility where the researcher worked before moving to Lund University in Sweden, where she still lives today.
“She already had her doctorate. She was a theoretical physicist, but wanted to learn as many laboratory techniques as possible. Since I worked with lasers and spent all my time in the laboratory, we often met there,” says the physicist.
He says that L’Huillier even helped him get around the bureaucracy and continue working. “The research center’s rules set specific times for entering and leaving, and no one worked on holidays. One of these holidays was supposed to fall on a Friday, but she spoke to the director so he could make an exception and allow us to work during the weekend in experiments.
According to the physicist, who is also a member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences, national laboratories also have the potential to carry out measurements of the behavior of particles on the scale of attoseconds (quintillionths of a second), an achievement made possible thanks to the work of the French woman and of the other Nobel Prize winners in this field this year.
“Why are there no similar awards in Brazil? This is not a lack of competence or knowledge,” he reflects. “What makes the difference is planning and continuity. She has struggled with this continuously since the 1980s. It’s not something you can make successful in one, two, three years. This consistency with investments in people needs to be maintained regardless of changes in government.