Anne L'Huillier's year as a science rockstar

SEE VIDEO INTERVIEW

I thought we would go back in time to the 3rd of October 2023. What do you remember most about that very special day?

Well, what I remember most is, of course, the phone call from the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. That was very important and very nice. What I also remember is that they asked me to stay on the phone to take part in the press conference. I thought, oh, but I, I am in the middle of a lecture. I need to get back to my students. How am I going to do that? And I ended up asking the academy if I could  go back to my class, which I did. I was so chocked I think the class guessed what had just happened. 

Has there been any event or experience this year that has meant a lot to you personally?

I've done many, many things this year that have been quite different from what I normally do. There is one event here that I think was very nice. That was when I visited my two children's old school. I got a very nice card from class 4 at Palettskolan in Lund congratulating me on the Nobel Prize asking if I could come and visit them and tell them about the prize. And I answered yes, I can do that but maybe not know, this was in November or December, but in the spring. After that nothing happened but around Easter 2024, the weather was nice and my husband was working in the garden. He saw three boys with their bicycles close to the entrance of our house. My husband asked them what they wanted and they asked him if someone who got the Nobel Prize lived here? My husband said, "Yes, it's my wife”. The boys said “Oh, she promised to come and visit us during the spring and now its spring. Can she come and visit us?” And of course I contacted the teacher and visited them. I prepared a special lecture for this class of ten-year-olds. 

And I think it went well and it was very nice.

Was there anything that was a bit odd during this year?

When I had to fire the cannon in Lundagård in November, that was a bit strange. I did not expect it at all.

What was your day like today? And how is it different from a normal day a year ago?

First of all, I'm giving an interview, which I didn't do a year ago. So my life has changed quite a lot because of the Nobel Prize. It´s like I have a different job now which is called a little bit of outreach, to talk about science to everyone in society. I’ve had many emails, many invitations, and I have had to decide whether to say yes or no. And a lot of travel as well. It's like I have a different job. I don't have much time for research, so I try to follow what my group is doing.

Were you prepared for this massive attention at all?

I was really not prepared at all. I think nobody can be prepared. It´s really like becoming a rock star from one day to the other. People on the street were stopping me to ask for a selfie or an autograph. And this has happened during the whole year, a little bit everywhere. In Sweden of course, in France quite a lot and a little bit everywhere.

That must be so strange?

Yes, its very strange. 

And to you approve the selfies?

To be honest, I don't like it very much. But if it makes people happy, I'm happy to do it.

How would you say that you like this new life of yours?

I don't think I would have chosen this life. It's not something I want to do, but I think maybe it's important and I can do it for a certain amount of time, for a few years. It's important to inspire the new generation and also to make science a bit more accessible to everyone.

Being a Nobel laureate also means that you have become a kind of role model for people all over the world. Do you have a role model or a particular person who inspires you?

Yes, I have had several people who have inspired me. For example, the fact that Marie Curie has existed and done everything that she did was important to me as a woman in science.

As a child, I was very much inspired by my grandfather on my mother’s side because he worked with radio and used his knowledge to help the resistance movement during the Second World War by communicating via radio. So this inspired me very much as a little girl. Then of course I had good teachers that inspired me. 

I had a good teacher in mathematics in high school and a very good teacher in quantum mechanics at university. They're the reason why I did what I did and why I got the Nobel Prize, because of this inspiration for science, physics and in particular atomic physics.

By reading interviews with you, I get the feeling that you have a very optimistic and constructive approach to the challenges in your field. Is there anything that you find a bit challenging?

Of course there are many things I find challenging. Actually, what I'm doing now I find a bit challenging. It's a lot of outreach, which goes a little bit against my own personality. I like to be in a small group, doing research and not at all talking about it at all. So I find it a little bit challenging to have the energy to do what I am doing right now. At the same time, I find it’s probably important that I devote some time to it.

What kind of conditions would you say are important for a university to provide for researchers who aim for a Nobel Prize?

First of all, I do not think one should aim for a Nobel Prize. I think one should aim to do good research. Both fundamental research and more applied research towards certain goals. I think the university should provide good resources and a good environment, a good research environment. Not too many disturbing tasks. There is a tendency now with too much administration. So that really should not increase, more just the contrary. So I would say the most important thing is to provide a good research environment.

Is there any advice you would give to aspiring researchers or students in your field?

In my own research field, what I want so say is that because there is a Nobel Prize now, it doesn’t mean that the research is kind of done or over. I think its just the contrary. I think the research in ultrafast science, attosecond science is, very, very open. And it's important to know, to use the attosecond pulses, that we know how to make and to use them to find new things. To use them in basic research as well as in more applied research. So I think there is really a lot to be done, this is an extremely interesting field of research. 

So it’s not done?

No. It is not done at all. I would almost say it's quite the opposite. Now we can do interesting things. There is a lot to learn.

What is next in your life?

I´m going to do this “Nobel job” at least one year ahead and maybe even more. Then I hope this will decrease.

I'm getting close to retirement so I'm not sure I'll go back to research like I did before. I will, of course, follow the research going on in my group and try to help my group. My aim is to make this group sustainable and really strong internationally. I still have a dream of writing a textbook on what I have been studying during the last 30 years or more. I think this would be useful for the next generation of PhD-students in the field. So I hope I will have time to do that.

Is there anything you would like to tell the 20-year-old Anne L'Huillier today?

No, not so much. I think she kind of took the right decisions in her career and in her life. Maybe I would like to tell her ”you should not have been so worried about taking these decisions”. And some decisions like moving to Sweden were big decisions, but I'm very happy I made them.