Ursula Keller

Ursula Keller (June 6, 1959–) has been a physics professor at the ETH Zurich, Switzerland since 2003 with a speciality in ultrafast laser technology, an inventor and the winner of the 2018 European Inventor Award by the European Patent Office.[1]

Ursula Keller
BornJune 6, 1959
NationalitySwiss
Known forInventing the SESAM technology
Scientific career
FieldsPhysics, Laser Technology

Career

After graduating as a physics engineer in 1984 from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, Ursula Keller continued her studies at Stanford University, where she obtained a master's degree in applied physics in 1987, and then continued with a doctorate in physics obtained in 1989. The topic of her studies was the development of a new technique for optical measurement of charge and voltage in GaAs type integrated circuits.

From 1989 to 1993, she worked at AT&T Bell's research centre in New Jersey, where she conducted research on photonic switching, ultrafast laser technology and semiconductor spectroscopy and developed a method for manufacturing ultra-short pulse lasers.

In 1993, she was appointed Professor of Physics at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, becoming the school's first female Professor of Physics [2]. In October 1997, she became a full professor.

Her research areas are ultrafast solid-state and semiconductor lasers, the development of reliable and functional instruments to generate extreme ultraviolet (EUV) X-rays and attosecond science. She developed the first method for generating ultra-fast light pulses known as semiconductor saturable-absorber mirrors (SESAMs), which have become a worldwide industry standard for cutting and welding in fields ranging from electronics and automotive industry to communications technology, medical diagnostics and surgery and has made myriad important contributions to the field of laser science since.[3] Dr. Keller’s earlier research into carrier envelope phase stabilization and frequency comb technology was integral to Theodor W. Hänsch and John L. Hall’s development of laser-based spectroscopy that garnered them the 2005 Nobel Prize in Physics.[4]

Ursula Keller is the founder and president of ETH Women Professors Forum[5]

Ursula Keller has patented several inventions in the field of ultra-fast lasers for industrial and medical applications.[6]

She is the creator of the Attoclock, one of the most accurate time measurement devices in the world, which can record time intervals up to a few attoseconds, the billionth part of a billionth of a second.[7]

Since 2010, Ursula Keller has been Director of the Swiss National Research Centre for Ultrafast Molecular Sciences and Technologies.

Since 2014, she has been a member of the Research Council of the Swiss National Science Foundation.[7]

In 2018, Ursula Keller won the European Inventor Award in the "Lifetime Achievement ".[6] In 2019, she was appointed as one of the leading experts that judges proposals for this award.[8]

She won the IEEE Photonics Award[9] in 2018 and the IEEE Edison Medal[10] in 2019.

She won the 2020 Gold Medal from the Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers[11] and the 2020 Frederic Ives Medal / Jarus Quinn Prize[12] from the Optical Society.

Controversy

In March 2019, in the context of the mobbing allegations against Marcella Carollo, Ursula Keller denounced a "lack of leadership, gender discrimination and corruption at ETH Zurich" and claimed that the reason for the proposed dismissal of her colleague was "not primarily the mobbing allegations, but her gender".[13] Female colleagues strongly disagreed with this statement in an open letter to the leadership of ETH. In the same period, Ursula Keller has been formally reprimanded by ETH Zurich, including the mention of a possible dismissal in case of recurrence.[14] Two external investigations disproved the accusations that Ursula Keller made against ETH Zurich. [15] During these investigations, Ursula Keller retracted her allegations of corruption and abuse of office.[16]

Awards and honors

Keller was named Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) in 2014[17] for contributions to ultrashort pulse mode locked laser physics and technology. She received the Weizmann Women and Science Award in 2017,[18] and in 2018, she won the European Inventor Award 2018 for laser technology in the category “Lifetime achievement.”.[19][6] Keller won the IEEE Photonics Award[9] in 2018 and the IEEE Edison Medal[10] in 2019. In November 2019, the Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers announced that she would receive the 2020 SPIE Gold Medal.[20] In 2020 she won the Frederick Ives Medal/Quinn Prize from The Optical Society in recognition of her work in ultrafast lasers technology.[21]

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gollark: On the Discord webapp I fiddled with CSS to unround every corner in existence.

References
  1. "Optoelectronics Interview with Dr. Ursula Keller". web.archive.org. 2008-09-06. Retrieved 2020-05-10.
  2. Logean, Sylvie (2018-04-25). "Ursula Keller a vu la lumière au bout du laser". Le Temps (in French).
  3. "The Group". ulp.ethz.ch. Retrieved 2019-10-23.
  4. "Ursula Keller - Engineering and Technology History Wiki". ethw.org. Retrieved 2019-10-23.
  5. "Prof. Dr. Ursula Keller | Women In Science". www.weizmann.ac.il. Retrieved 2018-12-14.
  6. "Swiss physicist wins European Inventor Award for laser technology". SWI swissinfo.ch. Retrieved 2018-06-08.
  7. Echos, Les (2018-05-03). "Des impulsions laser ultrarapides pour l'industrie et la médecine". lesechos.fr (in French).
  8. Office, European Patent. "European Inventor Award: jury members". www.epo.org. Retrieved 2019-01-21.
  9. "IEEE Photonics Award Recipients". www.ieee.org. Retrieved 2020-05-10.
  10. "IEEE Edison Medal Recipients". www.ieee.org. Retrieved 2020-05-10.
  11. "Gold Medal Winner Ursula Keller Among SPIE Award Honorees". www.photonics.com. Retrieved 2020-05-10.
  12. "OSA Honors Ursula Keller with Highest Award". www.photonics.com. Retrieved 2020-05-10.
  13. "Interview of Ursula Keller with the Online Platform "Republik"". Retrieved 2020-05-10.
  14. "NZZ am Sonntag, May 11, 2019". Retrieved 2020-05-10.
  15. "Tagesanzeiger, July 11, 2019". Retrieved 2020-05-10.
  16. "Report on the administrative investigation at the physics department D-PHYS of ETH Zurich" (PDF). Retrieved 2020-05-10.
  17. "2014 elevated fellow". IEEE Fellows Directory.
  18. "Ursula Keller receives Weizmann Women & Science Award". www.phys.ethz.ch. 2017-06-07. Retrieved 2018-12-14.
  19. Six award winning inventors changing the world. Euronews, 7 June 2018. Retrieved 7 June 2018.
  20. "Ursula Keller: The 2020 SPIE Gold Medal". SPIE. November 13, 2019. Retrieved November 26, 2019.
  21. "Frederic Ives Medal / Jarus W. Quinn Prize". The Optical Society. Retrieved 10 May 2020.
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