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Laser Expert Explains One Concept in 5 Levels of Difficulty | WIRED

Donna Strickland, PhD, winner of the 2018 Nobel Prize in Physics and a professor at the University of Waterloo, is challenged to explain lasers to 5 different people; a child, a teen, a college student, a grad student, and an expert. Also, check out the free WIRED channel on Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV,…

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Donna Strickland, PhD, winner of the 2018 Nobel Prize in Physics and a professor at the University of Waterloo, is challenged to explain lasers to 5 different people; a child, a teen, a college student, a grad student, and an expert.

Also, check out the free WIRED channel on Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, and Android TV. Here you can find your favorite WIRED shows and new episodes of our latest hit series Tradecraft.

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Laser Expert Explains One Concept in 5 Levels of Difficulty | WIRED

74 Comments

  1. newyorker122

    October 29, 2019 at 8:22 am

    Are we just going to ignore the laser “expert” shined a flashlight in a 9 year old’s eyes?

  2. David Poopy

    October 29, 2019 at 9:53 am

    Lol she is terrible at teaching but I can see her passion for her subject. Will probably do way better in research.

  3. Danijel Dodjavol

    October 29, 2019 at 10:32 am

    Level 2: Teen
    Eli Kaplan
    12-year-old

    lol

  4. Greg Sherman

    October 29, 2019 at 11:49 am

    Go to space, use gravitational lensing as the focuser.

  5. CyborgSlayerNila

    October 29, 2019 at 11:49 am

    How is there no “FIRING THE LAZZZERSSS” ref yet

  6. CyborgSlayerNila

    October 29, 2019 at 12:06 pm

    Kilajeuwl, tabletop terrawatt….wahhh??

  7. DiCi Abadines

    October 29, 2019 at 12:28 pm

    What I like about this series is that an average viewer can somehow jive with conversations between two experts by spoon feeding simpler explanations first

  8. Joni Hasa

    October 29, 2019 at 12:48 pm

    Why am I watching this? I mean I know how to butter a bread but that’s about it.

  9. Aj's life

    October 29, 2019 at 12:53 pm

    I’m very smart but she’s talking in nobel prizes…. I’m out..

  10. Hash Pond

    October 29, 2019 at 1:22 pm

    Are we just going to ignore that this lady is making a phaser?

  11. ZacierToni

    October 29, 2019 at 2:11 pm

    12 y/o teen, aight

  12. Tom Morgan

    October 29, 2019 at 2:40 pm

    I’m not certain, but I think she went deeper with the 12 year old than she expected to.

  13. DeShawn Michaelson

    October 29, 2019 at 2:44 pm

    I’ve always found that this kind of tailored communication – the ones ive seen who are the best at it… are all women. Maybe they’re uniquely good at reading reactions ?

  14. Jason McAdams

    October 29, 2019 at 3:01 pm

    Can i get the 5 level explanation of what a “teen” is? I thought I knew but I guess not.

  15. deviousxen

    October 29, 2019 at 3:08 pm

    ‘Left my husband in NJ… At a truck stop. At the McDonalds.’ xD

  16. Tonz Lang

    October 29, 2019 at 3:13 pm

    I am hearing laser weaponry… uhg…

  17. It's All About You

    October 29, 2019 at 3:21 pm

    Interesting

  18. How2BeANoob

    October 29, 2019 at 3:37 pm

    WATER WATER WATER

  19. fetB

    October 29, 2019 at 3:39 pm

    I always thought what ade lasers cut, is the heat. That it’s pressure, i still dont fully grasp. After all, the material is vaporized

  20. Marsbird exe

    October 29, 2019 at 3:47 pm

    Fockin laser sights

  21. Soullesspancake

    October 29, 2019 at 4:28 pm

    Simplest explanation: PEW PEW.

  22. Eph-Jay Music

    October 29, 2019 at 4:39 pm

    How do you phase lock multiple beams?

  23. 10,000 subs with no videos?

    October 29, 2019 at 4:50 pm

    What about styropyro

  24. aleksander suur

    October 29, 2019 at 4:53 pm

    Heh, never thought that there can be no such thing as monochromatic pulse of light. Obvious once someone points it out though.

  25. LidocaineFueledNightmares

    October 29, 2019 at 4:57 pm

    Styropyro: W o k e

  26. Samwel Nyamwaya

    November 1, 2019 at 4:15 pm

    Teen category enter 12 year old in middle school😎🤣

  27. Samwel Nyamwaya

    November 1, 2019 at 4:19 pm

    “teen” puts his hand on chin to seem more engaged. Enter expert level

  28. T

    November 1, 2019 at 5:27 pm

    Holy F, a Nobel laureate on Wired, that’s something.

  29. Andrei Andreev

    November 2, 2019 at 2:30 am

    Seems to me that to understand lasers one ought to understand the nature of light. Light is just so mundane and abstract at the same time.

  30. Jose Nell Andrew Tumulak

    November 2, 2019 at 2:40 am

    *smacc* the electron right off

  31. Nomon Munir

    November 2, 2019 at 4:13 am

    that was a handful

  32. Richard H. Smith Jr.

    November 2, 2019 at 5:01 am

    12y ears old, does not a teenager make. 🤪

  33. odasuoatan

    November 3, 2019 at 3:18 am

    gostosa

    • odasuoatan

      November 3, 2019 at 3:18 am

      a velha

  34. Heightist

    November 3, 2019 at 4:31 am

    “It really threw me off just how fast…”
    Me: So, you’re a science major and the speed of light caught you off guard…?

  35. Ruby Giraffes

    November 3, 2019 at 11:51 am

    Why do I feel like Professor Strickland is not good at explaining things? Even her discussion with the child, teen, and college student was a bit over the place.

  36. Ruby Giraffes

    November 3, 2019 at 11:59 am

    All I heard was Nobel Prize throughout the whole chat with Mr Campbell.

  37. Hint Of Sarcasm

    November 3, 2019 at 7:08 pm

    Hi yes I am a teen at the age of twelve. I don’t see teen in there

  38. Zygarde365

    November 3, 2019 at 7:37 pm

    laser is actually an acronym, it stands for Light Amplification through Stimulated Emission of Radiation, L. A. S. E. R.

  39. Sir Lance Goodthrust

    November 3, 2019 at 8:47 pm

    All I want to see is a laser strapped to a shark, and sent to take out Islamic radicals.

  40. Tim Pillomann

    November 3, 2019 at 10:48 pm

    Can you please ask a Fields medal winner to explain his field of research on 5 levels?

  41. Ted Dale

    November 3, 2019 at 11:45 pm

    Brosky was talking about euv sources used to take us further on the Moore journey

  42. Kazimir

    November 4, 2019 at 12:45 am

    Can I use lasers to pump chloroplasts and keep photosynthesis going? Coupling this to a CO2 meter could make this process ridiculous efficient. Could this be a thing or am I just daydreaming?

  43. djdaniels00

    November 4, 2019 at 4:19 am

    My bachelor’s is in photonic science and engineering, the expert level in this video isn’t even speaking at the master’s level in photonics. Try sitting though a non-linear optics or quantum optics lecture at the graduate level. It’s crazy, I feel so stupid compared to some of my old professors.

  44. Angelo Gabriel

    November 4, 2019 at 7:26 am

    “I’m gonna put in your direction so you can see it.”
    My grandmother is having an attack because you shouldn’t point lasers to the eyes!

  45. Stefan Reich

    November 4, 2019 at 12:21 pm

    What do you think about lasers? – I think they’re cool

    *Knew* that was coming 😀

  46. Bleflar

    November 4, 2019 at 12:54 pm

    Jeez, that nine year old girl is a giant.

  47. Bleflar

    November 4, 2019 at 1:07 pm

    She is smarter than anyone i know and will ever know, and she knows more on the topic than anyone else. But its pretty clear that she isn’t a good teacher.

  48. Oliver Habersetzer

    November 4, 2019 at 3:53 pm

    why did she explain how to stretch an impulse but not how to compress…? #sadface

  49. Sea

    November 4, 2019 at 5:28 pm

    Eli, sci-fi is not real life!!!

  50. Adam Halley-Prinable

    November 4, 2019 at 5:29 pm

    Hang on hang on woah woah smacking the electrons off the atom!? Does that mean the laser hammer changes the chemical composition of it’s target? Is she a laser alchemist?!

  51. Matthew Bennett

    November 5, 2019 at 12:25 am

    I wonder… Did she have a Nobel prize-winning idea?

  52. hematose

    November 5, 2019 at 3:08 am

    @5:00, that’s a plasma cutter, not a laser cutter that it competes with. And again at 6:36.

  53. BIGGANI J.A.M. J.A.M

    November 5, 2019 at 10:44 am

    I am waiting for the day when this Jedi Master comes to me and say, “No, I am Your Mother”

  54. Ethan Cryder

    November 5, 2019 at 12:31 pm

    The expert said a bunch of letters and numbers that literally make no sense lol

  55. Guskes

    November 5, 2019 at 1:59 pm

    instead of studying for my test in Aviation Engineering. im watching her explaining me lazers

  56. anonymous anthropoid

    November 6, 2019 at 12:20 am

    I swear I wasn’t even in the same room with her but I totally zoned out just watching her explain something with the rainbow slinky

  57. Owen Calder

    November 6, 2019 at 3:01 am

    These people are gonna make the death star laser and blow up a planet

  58. Abhishek Human

    November 6, 2019 at 12:02 pm

    #WIRED
    How many space research agencies are there and we do not know, only a few people know how many companies like NASA, ISRO, Superco that search, please make a video series on Superco, ISRO, NASA too.

  59. Abhishek Human

    November 6, 2019 at 12:02 pm

    #WIRED
    कितनी अंतरिक्ष अनुसंधान एजेंसियां ​​हैं और हम नहीं जानते हैं, केवल कुछ ही लोग जानते हैं कि नासा, इसरो, सुपरको जैसी कितनी कंपनियां खोज करती हैं, कृपया सुपरको, इसरो, नासा पर भी एक वीडियो श्रृंखला बनाएं।

  60. portaccio

    November 6, 2019 at 3:38 pm

    PEW PEW! PEWPEWPEW! PEW!

  61. MB

    November 7, 2019 at 8:59 am

    She is amazing, so smart, articulate and confident! and she absolutely killed it in that red dress

  62. FFFred Jiang

    November 7, 2019 at 12:02 pm

    Conclusion, I am no better than a teen

  63. SkaterBlades

    November 8, 2019 at 1:33 am

    Okay but can we get sharks with frickin laser beams attached to their heads?

  64. TankiGaming with RichardRocks2016

    November 8, 2019 at 11:13 am

    12 is not teen but ok whatever

  65. iTradeAIMS

    November 8, 2019 at 11:30 am

    Please put the “keyword” 2018 NOBEL PRIZE WINNER in the title…

  66. Teejay Carl Lopez

    November 8, 2019 at 1:25 pm

    I kinda wished an audio engineer would do 5 levels about acoustics 🤓

  67. Charlie Angkor

    November 8, 2019 at 1:25 pm

    laser is to light what a whistle is to sound.

  68. Charlie Angkor

    November 8, 2019 at 1:33 pm

    if you shine light into a darkened glass, it diminishes in brightness with distance. in a laser there is an opposite stuff. You shine weak light in and its brightness rises as it travels through and comes out brighter. Then someone came with an idea to put two mirrors around it so it builds up its brightness to infinity.

  69. Charlie Angkor

    November 8, 2019 at 1:37 pm

    I designed a DIY “laser” wireless optical datalink 1.4 km 10Mbps full duplex. Except it doesnt have a laser, but an LED. Lasers are bad for this. Eye safety, expensive, complicated to drive, easy to destroy, coherence causes black spots wandering over the receiver and causing signal dropouts. Requires expensive sharp optics.

  70. Charlie Angkor

    November 8, 2019 at 1:40 pm

    with her laser hammer she probably blows a lens or a mirror or fries a fiber before it even comes out of the laser 😂😂😂

  71. Charlie Angkor

    November 8, 2019 at 1:41 pm

    I shone a 5mW laser pointer into an optical fibre and it smoked and melted and stopped working because the carrier plastic was black😂😂😂 now imagine your retina smoking and melting.

  72. Charlie Angkor

    November 8, 2019 at 1:46 pm

    so if I put her terawatt or what laser hammer into my Ronja how many kilometers of dense fog will it punch through? 😂😂😂 will it be eye safe? 😂😂😂

  73. Dwight Lewis

    November 8, 2019 at 4:19 pm

    Laser is an acronym:
    Light
    Amplification by
    Stimulated
    Epstein didn’t kill himself
    Radiation

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