Donna Theo Strickland (born 27 May 1959)[1][2][3] is a Canadian optical physicist and pioneer in the field of pulsed lasers.

She was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2018, together with Gérard Mourou, for the practical implementation of chirped pulse amplification.

[1] After graduating from Guelph Collegiate Vocational Institute, she decided to attend McMaster University because its engineering physics program included lasers and electro-optics, areas of particular interest to her.

[10][11] She conducted her doctoral research at the associated Laboratory for Laser Energetics, supervised by Gérard Mourou.

[14] She worked in the laser division of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory from 1991 to 1992 and joined the technical staff of Princeton University's Advanced Technology Center for Photonics and Opto-electronic Materials in 1992.

[7]Strickland's recent work has focused on pushing the boundaries of ultrafast optical science to new wavelength ranges such as the mid-infrared and the ultraviolet, using techniques such as two-colour or multi-frequency methods, as well as Raman generation.

[18][19] On 2 October 2018, Strickland was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for her work on chirped pulse amplification with her doctoral adviser Gérard Mourou.

She became the third woman ever to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics, after Marie Curie in 1903 and Maria Goeppert Mayer in 1963.

[26] Strickland is married to Douglas Dykaar, who received a doctorate in electrical engineering from the University of Rochester.

[8][40] They have two children:[8] Hannah, a graduate student in astrophysics at the University of Toronto,[15] and Adam, who is studying comedy at Humber College.