Female Nobel winner a long time coming, and a drop in the ocean

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When Canadian scientist Donna Strickland got the early morning call informing her she just won the Nobel Physics Prize, she could barely hide her amazement.

Not just that she had clinched one of science’s most prestigious honours  her pioneering work on laser pulses had earned her renown among the physics community  but also that she was one of only three women to win the award in its more than 100-year history.