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.
"Is that all, really?!" she asked the audience assembled in the ornate, wood-panelled hall at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm on Tuesday morning.
"Well, OK. I thought there might have been more but I couldn't think."
In becoming the first women Nobel physics laureate in 55 years, Strickland won acclaim from her peers, who were keen to point out the boundary-pushing work done by female scientists across the world.