Interview with the 2023 Nobel Prize laureate in physics Pierre Agostini on 6 December 2023 during the Nobel Week in Stockholm, Sweden.

Where did your passion for science come from?

Pierre Agostini: I think research is the thing that attracted me to science because before that I didn’t have such an interest. Experiments; doing experiments and trying to find something that was not predicted, I think that’s the most interesting thing in science.

How do you maintain your curiosity?

Pierre Agostini: Reading and keeping eyes open, I guess. Curiosity is something that is built in. I think I always was curious, and I will be always.

Was there someone who inspired you?

Pierre Agostini: Probably Cohen-Tannoudji. In the seventies, we went to the College de France to his lectures, and he really excited me a lot. I think he was extremely rigorous and at the same time extremely open. The two qualities I think really inspired me.

How can science fight myths?

Pierre Agostini: By spreading right ideas and, I think it’s difficult, but that’s the job.

How do you deal with failure?

Pierre Agostini: Try and try again, I guess. If there is a reason, then we have to find the reason, so we have to think about it and then try again. Maybe you did something wrong, in the experiment it’s very easy to do things wrong. I think, just try again because it’s very rare that things work the first time. I have one experiment back in -79 that worked the first time, but this is usually not the case. We have to try again.

What would you say to a student who has experienced a big failure?

Pierre Agostini: Big failure, OK. This happens all the time. A big failure as an experimentalist is something very easy to achieve. The important thing is to understand why this happens and just try to fix the problem. That’s the way I react at least. Most of the time you find two or three things which could have gone wrong, and you fix one after the other and usually that works.

Do you ever get imposter syndrome?

Pierre Agostini: I try not to, but sometimes I guess it happens, not perhaps the last few years because I was really established in this attosecond business. I feel this is hope – but in the past, perhaps it happened. The way professional research works, you really do things that you’re supposed to do and, I think I have always felt at home with that kind of work. When you are not exactly sure what experiments to do and you try one and it’s not that great, then you really think ‘what am I doing here’ maybe. ‘This is not where I should be’. I remember when, I guess in the seventies, I went for a post-doc, or sort of post-doc in Los Angeles. But before that, I was doing experiments that were not working very well, and I was wondering if this is really the work I should do. Fortunately, this changed with time.

What good advice have you received?

Pierre Agostini: Try to understand what you do, at least in as far as possible. Try to do theory also with experiment, and not just experiment.

What qualities does a successful scientist need?

Pierre Agostini: I have known a number of people who are wonderful scientists and physicists, and they have qualities that I’m afraid I don’t have. I think about, Harm Muller, my old colleague from Amsterdam and from the FOM-Institute who has absolutely wonderful qualities – both an extraordinary theoretician and fantastic in the lab too. He is the example I would cite for anyone wants to do science.

What is your best quality?

Pierre Agostini: It’s difficult to define in a single word, but I would say precision and being aware of things. I remember once we had a glass setup in the lab. It had to be heated to a gas to purify the atmosphere inside. Once we were heating that thing, and I forgot about it and we went for lunch, and when we came back, that thing was melting. It was horrible! I was there, you know, it was all my fault. This is not being aware of things. From that time, I think I’ve tried to be aware of things.

How do you spend your free time?

Pierre Agostini: Now I have some free time. I read most of the time, that’s what I do. I mean literature – American, novels, mostly fiction, for example, Glück, Louise Glück.

Does reading make you a better scientist?

Pierre Agostini: Probably, because there are a lot of things in the literature that could make me a better person. I don’t think it has made me a better scientist, though.

Is keeping up to date with scientific literature essential?

Pierre Agostini: Yes, because it’s something necessary. You cannot avoid that. That’s part of the job.

Watch the interview

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