Acceptance speech 24May11final

2011 Prize for Applied Aspects of Quantum Electronics and Optics:
Ursula Keller
The 2011 Prize for Applied Aspects of Quantum Electronics and Optics
is awarded to Professor Ursula Keller, Professor in the Physics
Department, ETH Zurich, Switzerland. The Prize is awarded to Professor
Keller for “seminal contributions to ultrafast solid-state lasers,
telecommunications, metrology, and attosecond science”.
http://qeod.epsdivisions.org/qeod-prizes
Acceptance speech May 24th:
Ursula Keller
“I am absolutely delighted to accept this award and would like to thank
everyone throughout my career who contributed to me reaching this
point, especially ETH Zurich and all the talented PhD students and
postdocs who have worked with me. Also of course I would like to thank
the selection committee, the people who took the time to make the
nomination and write the supporting letters.
Receiving this particular award means a lot to me, because this one
recognizes both applied and fundamental contributions to science.
Throughout my career I have always combined an interest in both of
them, with the idea of developing technology to expand our knowledge
horizon and make an impact in industry and our lives.
As a Swiss national I first established my scientific career in applied
science in the US. Having studied and worked at such great places as
Stanford University and Bell Labs, I was fortunate to interact with
outstanding teachers and mentors who gave me much good advice,
assistance and also showed me how you can succeed in science.
For example, Dave Auston a pioneer in THz spectroscopy made it
possible for me to spend one summer at Bell Labs as a visiting student
even though I was not officially eligible for this program, as a foreigner.
When I recently asked Dave Auston at his 70 th birthday party why he did
this for me – he told me he saw the “spark in my eyes” and also did not
accept the rule, because after all as a Canadian he was also a foreigner in
the US.

In my experience excellent and inspiring scientists try to support good
upcoming people, even if they are a bit outspoken, do not necessarily fit
into the system, or are minorities or are outsiders. It has made me realize
that it is in the interest of science that we all do this.
But it is also the types of challenges you are faced with, and how you
deal with them, that make you develop in science. I started to work at
Bell Labs as an independent staff scientist directly after my Ph.D.
• My guidelines for building up my labs was simply “Do something
different from everybody else, but it better be good.”
• Then, when I went to my boss for advice on some ideas, he said
“Why are you asking me? – you are the expert!”
• When I was ready to spend my funds for building up my lab, he
asked, “Are you sure you want to buy this laser? You only get this
chance for such a large investment once!”
… this was scary – after all when are you actually ever really sure?
So I had to simply take a leap of faith, and make the important decisions
independently. It was during this time at Bell Labs that I did the original
work on the SESAM – but of course I did not know this would be the
outcome at the beginning. You simply have to start and constantly ask
the right questions, constantly challenge your chosen approach, readjust
as needed. And it helps to be surrounded by excellent people for further
stimulation, and to deal with their hard questions!
My next step was to be invited back to Europe as a tenured Professor at
ETH Zurich in 1993 – nearly 20 years ago. I was only 33 years old and
one of the youngest profs and in addition the first female tenured
professor in physics or in any other mathematical science or engineering
area at ETH Zurich. This resulted in a culture shock both for me, and my
colleagues in the Physics Department at ETH Zurich. It turned out to be
very challenging, but at the same time at ETH Zurich I was empowered
to do my independent research. I also had wonderful support from senior
leaders in Europe such as Günter Huber, Orazio Svelto, David Hanna and
Gerd Leuchs. Thank you for all your support over the years.
Then ten years ago I added to my research a fundamental science field
with attosecond science. This also meant I moved into another
community in atomic and molecular science. You feel like a new young
postdoc and also get treated as such … (overall probably a good
experience …). But very often it is the move into some related, but still
different field, which helps to make innovative contributions because
“you think differently.” You did not go through the same training as most

of the well-established members in that community. But you also pay a
price – you feel very stupid many times because initially you do not
understand or know the obvious … But the attoclock was one outcome of
this move! I am truly grateful to Anne L’Huillier who accepted me for a
sabbatical in Lund in 2001 and she has been an inspiration in this work.
So I would like to end by asking: Why are we doing this, pursuing
scientific research? It is because we humans have so many challenges
ahead of us, and in my view we will certainly need strong science and
technology – both in fundamental and applied science, to be successful
(both in the short term and in the long term). We need to all support good
scientific work and we need to encourage our young collaborators, who
after all do the experiments and dedicate long hours to lab work in order
to achieve results.
The scientific community is one community that can set a leading
example as to how we can interact beyond borders, gender and race. I
believe this is important and essential for our future.
Thank you once again for the support that has enabled me to stand here
and receive this prize. Thank you – and thank you Kurt for having been
such a great husband for more than 20 years.”