Ursula Keller (born 21 June 1959) is a Swiss physicist. She has been a physics professor at the

ETH Zurich (colloquially) , former_name = eidgenössische polytechnische Schule , image = ETHZ.JPG , image_size = , established = , type = Public , budget = CHF 1.896 billion (2021) , rector = Günther Dissertori , president = Joël Mesot , ac ...

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

since 2003 with a speciality in ultra-fast laser technology, an inventor and the winner of the 2018

European Inventor Award The European Inventor Award(formerly European Inventor of the Year Award, renamed in 2010), are presented annually by the European Patent Office, sometimes supported by the respective Presidency of the Council of the European Union and by the Eur ...

by the

European Patent Office The European Patent Office (EPO) is one of the two organs of the European Patent Organisation (EPOrg), the other being the Administrative Council. The EPO acts as executive body for the organisation

Career

Ursula Keller grew up in a working-class family. After graduating as a physics engineer in 1984 from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, she 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, ultra-fast 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 The Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology are two institutes of higher education in Switzerland (part of the ETH Domain): * Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne Swiss may refer to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland *Swiss people ...

in Zurich, becoming the school's first female Professor of Physics. In October 1997, she became a full professor. Her research areas are ultra-fast 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 mirror Semiconductor saturable-absorber mirrors (SESAMs) are a type of saturable absorber used in mode locking lasers. Semiconductor saturable absorbers were used for laser mode-locking as early as 1974 when p-type germanium was used to mode lock a lase ...

s (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. Dr. Keller’s earlier research into carrier envelope phase stabilization and

frequency comb In optics, a frequency comb is a laser source whose spectrum consists of a series of discrete, equally spaced frequency lines. Frequency combs can be generated by a number of mechanisms, including periodic modulation (in amplitude and/or phase) of a ...

technology was integral to

Theodor W. Hänsch Theodor Wolfgang Hänsch (; born 30 October 1941) is a German physicist. He received one-third of the 2005 Nobel Prize in Physics for "contributions to the development of laser-based precision spectroscopy, including the optical frequency comb t ...

and

John L. Hall John Lewis "Jan" Hall (born August 21, 1934) is an American physicist, and Nobel laureate in physics. He shared the 2005 Nobel Prize in Physics with Theodor W. Hänsch and Roy Glauber for his work in precision spectroscopy. Biography Born ...

’s development of laser-based spectroscopy that garnered them the 2005 Nobel Prize in Physics. Ursula Keller has nearly 700 articles published with total

citation A citation is a reference to a source. More precisely, a citation is an abbreviated alphanumeric expression embedded in the body of an intellectual work that denotes an entry in the bibliographic references section of the work for the purpose of ...

of 45131 and

h-index The ''h''-index is an author-level metric that measures both the productivity and citation impact of the publications, initially used for an individual scientist or scholar. The ''h''-index correlates with obvious success indicators such as winn ...

of 109. Her most popular publication has cited by 1905 people (as on 12th September 2020). Ursula Keller is the founder and president of ''ETH Women Professors Forum'' Ursula Keller has patented several inventions in the field of ultra-fast lasers for industrial and medical applications. 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. Since 2010, Ursula Keller has been Director of the Swiss National Research Centre for Ultra-fast Molecular Sciences and Technologies. Since 2014, she has been a member of the Research Council of the Swiss National Science Foundation. In 2018, Ursula Keller won the European Inventor Award in the "Lifetime Achievement ". In 2019, she was appointed as one of the leading experts that judges proposals for this award. She won the IEEE Photonics Award in 2018 and the IEEE Edison Medal in 2019. She won the 2020 Gold Medal from the Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers and the 2020 Frederic Ives Medal / Jarus Quinn Prize 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". 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. Two external investigations disproved the accusations that Ursula Keller made against ETH Zurich. During these investigations, Ursula Keller retracted her allegations of corruption and abuse of office. Otherwise, the Swiss Federal Audit Office recommended more transparency in the distribution of funds

Awards and honors

* Joseph Fraunhofer Award / Robert M. Burley Prize from

The Optical Society Optica (formerly known as The Optical Society (OSA) and before that as the Optical Society of America) is a professional society of individuals and companies with an interest in optics and photonics. It publishes journals and organizes conference ...

, 2008 "For seminal contributions to the development and application of ultrafast lasers and notably pioneering work on semiconductor saturable absorber mode-locking." *

Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is a 501(c)(3) professional association for electronic engineering and electrical engineering (and associated disciplines) with its corporate office in New York City and its operation ...

(IEEE), 2014 for contributions to

ultrashort pulse In optics, an ultrashort pulse, also known as an ultrafast event, is an electromagnetic pulse whose time duration is of the order of a picosecond (10−12 second) or less. Such pulses have a broadband optical spectrum, and can be created by ...

mode locked

laser physics Laser science or laser physics is a branch of optics that describes the theory and practice of lasers. Laser science is principally concerned with quantum electronics, laser construction, optical cavity design, the physics of producing a popul ...

and technology *

Charles Hard Townes Charles Hard Townes (July 28, 1915 – January 27, 2015) was an American physicist. Townes worked on the theory and application of the maser, for which he obtained the fundamental patent, and other work in quantum electronics associated wit ...

Award from

"For seminal contributions in the fields of octave-spanning lasers, frequency comb technology, and high repetition-rate ultrafast semiconductor disc lasers." * Weizmann Women and Science Award in 2017 *

2018 for laser technology in the category “Lifetime achievement.” *

IEEE Photonics Award The IEEE Photonics Award is a Technical Field Award established by the IEEE Board of Directors in 2002. This award is presented for outstanding achievements in photonics, including work relating to: light-generation, transmission, deflection, am ...

, 2018 *

IEEE Edison Medal The IEEE Edison Medal is presented by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) "for a career of meritorious achievement in electrical science, electrical engineering, or the electrical arts." It is the oldest medal in this fi ...

, 2019 *

SPIE Gold Medal SPIE Gold Medal, or Gold Medal Award of SPIE, is the highest honor of SPIE (the international society for optics and photonics), and is considered one of the highest award in the fields of photonic and optical engineering and related instrumental ...

, 2020 * Frederick Ives Medal/Quinn Prize from

in recognition of her work in ultra-fast laser technology *Elected to the

National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Nati ...

in 2021

References

External links

ETHZ, Department of Physics, Institute for Quantum Electronics, Ultrafast Laser Physics
{{DEFAULTSORT:Keller, Ursula Fellow Members of the IEEE Living people Swiss women scientists Swiss physicists 20th-century Swiss women 21st-century Swiss women 20th-century Swiss scientists 21st-century Swiss scientists Swiss women physicists 20th-century women scientists 21st-century women scientists 21st-century Swiss educators Swiss women educators Women in optics Academic staff of ETH Zurich 1959 births 21st-century women educators IEEE Edison Medal recipients Foreign associates of the National Academy of Sciences