Paul Corkum received his B.Sc. (1965) degree in Physics from Acadia University (Nova Scotia) and completed his Master's degree (1967) and Ph.D. (1972) at Lehigh University. After a year at Lehigh as a postdoctoral researcher, he moved to the National Research Council in Ottawa. In 1990 he formed the Femtsecond Science Group within NRC’s Steacie Institute for Molecular Sciences. Over the next 17 years he led the group to world leadership in the field. In 2008 he was named a Canada Research Chair of Attosecond Photonics at the University of Ottawa and appointed Director of the Joint NRC/University of Ottawa Laboratory for Attosecond Science. He holds adjunct professorships at McMaster University, the University of British Columbia and Texas A and M University.

Dr. Corkum's research launched attosecond science. After studying the interaction of intense laser radiation with atoms and molecules, he and his group proposed a method for producing and measuring attosecond pulses of light. Using this revolutionary technology, they have been able to “see” electrons, image molecular orbitals, and “watch” electrons move in a molecule as a chemical reaction takes place.

Dr. Corkum is a member of the Royal Societies of Canada (1995) and London (2005). He has been the recipient of the Gold Medal for Lifetime Achievement in Physics from the Canadian Association of Physicists (1996), the Einstein Award of the Society for Optical and Quantum Electronics (1999), the Golden Jubilee Medal of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II (2003), the Tory Medal of the Royal Society of Canada (2003), the Charles Townes Award of the Optical Society of America (2005), the Quantum Electronics Award of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE, 2005), the Killam Prize for Physical Sciences (2006), and the Arthur Schawlow Prize for Quantum Electronics from the American Physical Society (2006). He has twice been named a Laser and Electro-Optics Society (LEOS) Distinguished Lecturer. In 2008 he shared NSERC’s Polyani Award with A. D. Bandrauk and he was named an Officer of the Order of Canada.