“I would like to create a bridge between physics and medicine, transforming healthcare from a reactive mode into a future proactive mode.”
— Professor Ferenc KRAUSZ, Chair of Laser Physics in the Department of Physics, and Nobel Laureate in Physics 2023
Professor Ferenc KRAUSZ
- Professor, Chair of Laser Physics, HKU Department of Physics
- Nobel Laureate in Physics 2023
- Professor of Experimental Physics, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Germany
- Director of the Attosecond Physics Division, Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics, Germany
- Scientific Director & CEO, Center for Molecular Fingerprinting, Hungary
Professor Ferenc Krausz presenting his gift to the Nobel Museum's collection during a gathering of 2023 Nobel Prize laureates.
Image Credit: Anna Svanberg/ Nobel Prize Outreach
When Professor Ferenc KRAUSZ, 2023 Nobel Laureate in Physics and one of the world’s foremost pioneers in ultrafast laser science, arrived at HKU to assume his new position as Chair Professor of Laser Physics, he brought with him not only a distinguished scientific legacy but also a quietly evolving vision. His work, once focused purely on capturing electron motion at the attosecond scale, is now turning toward something profoundly human: understanding how light might help reveal the earliest molecular signs of disease hidden within a drop of blood.
Despite his global stature, Krausz speaks with measured clarity rather than grandeur. What drives him is not the fame of discovery, but the deeper pursuit of questions capable of sustaining an entire lifetime.
“Scientific research often begins with the right questions—ones that can carry you for decades,” notes Krausz. His fascination with the microcosm began early, drawn to the worlds hidden beneath the limits of human perception. He credits an excellent early teacher with pointing him toward physics, but he is quick to note that it was the questions, not a singular moment of inspiration, that sustained his path. “I have always been fascinated by entering a world unknown to humans,” he says, “where there is a chance to discover something new.”
Professor Ferenc Krausz after receiving his prize from H.M. King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden at Konserthuset Stockholm on 10 December 2023.
Image credit: Nanaka Adachi/ Nobel Prize Outreach
Capturing What Cannot be Seen
He often tells young researchers that perseverance is indispensable, as are curiosity and the resilience to embrace the setbacks that inevitably mark the frontier. “You often learn more from failures than from steps forward,” he reflects. “They force you to rethink—and sometimes that rethinking is what moves you ahead.” This quiet persistence would eventually reshape a field.
“Science owes something to the world, and perhaps one day, what we discover can serve everyone,” says Krausz. Attosecond science, Krausz’s domain, pushes the limits of measurement. Attosecond pulses, lasting billionths of a billionth of a second, allow scientists to observe the swift motion of electrons in real time. The first isolated attosecond pulses, generated by Krausz and his collaborators in the early 2000s, ushered in a new era of modern physics and earned him the Nobel Prize in 2023.
The breakthrough was anything but solitary. His attosecond work grew from collaborations across Austria, Germany, Hungary, and Canada, with partnerships he describes as essential in a world where advanced experiments demand expertise spanning physics, engineering, computing, and even life sciences.
“The laws of nature aren’t restricted to a country or a continent,” he says. “Science is inherently international, which is one of the most beautiful ways for people to connect.”
Today, attosecond techniques continue to influence fields ranging from materials science to electronics. Nonetheless, their most unexpected potential lies beyond physics itself.
A Scientific Journey Turning Toward Healing
Around 10 years ago, Krausz began exploring whether ultrafast light could serve a more immediate human purpose. His team discovered that attosecond techniques could trace minute changes in the molecular composition of human blood, specifically subtle shifts reflected in what he calls an “infrared fingerprint.” “With our dream teams in Budapest, Munich, and Hong Kong we would like to create a bridge between physics and medicine, transforming healthcare from a reactive mode into a future proactive mode,” Krausz says.
Over a decade of carefully accumulated results suggests that diseases, including cancers and chronic conditions, can alter this fingerprint at early stages. The idea is still evolving, and Krausz emphasises that its full potential and its limits must be understood through rigorous study.
To that end, researchers in Munich, Budapest, and Hong Kong are preparing three coordinated, long-term cohort studies. Rather than promising medical transformation, the aim is to gather the evidence needed to test how well this approach works across populations.
Hong Kong’s world-class clinical trial infrastructure and diverse community make it an ideal site for this next phase. The hope is that, over time, the findings may contribute to simpler, earlier ways of diagnosing diseases.
Beginning Again at HKU
Krausz sees his new role at HKU as a continuation rather than a reinvention. He plans to contribute to the University’s strengths in physics and medicine, build a small research group, and mentor students interested in interdisciplinary work. “I look forward to collaborating with the University’s brilliant minds to explore new frontiers, unlocking new possibilities in both fundamental discovery and technological innovation,” says Krausz.
Reflecting on what drew him to Hong Kong, he says, is not just the scale of the ambition but also the quality of the environment: “HKU is an excellent place to bring together different areas of expertise, and to see where those conversations might lead.”
He speaks warmly of the city’s scientific openness, its global outlook, and its place at the crossroads of East and West, with qualities that align naturally with his belief that collaboration is essential to progress.
As he begins this new chapter, Krausz’s work feels less like a dramatic leap and more like a measured extension of a lifelong pursuit: letting curiosity guide him toward questions whose answers may one day help illuminate the threshold between physics and health, and perhaps offer new ways of understanding, and ultimately protecting, human life.
From the left: Secretary for Labour and Welfare Mr Chris Yuk-han SUN, President and Vice-Chancellor Professor Xiang ZHANG, |
Video Interview | Inaugural Lecture
More than 800 participants from academic, policy, and student communities attended Professor Krausz’s Inaugural Lecture at HKU.
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