A 96-year-old scientist from Rumson has become the oldest person to win the Nobel Prize.

Arthur Ashkin won the Nobel Prize in physics for developing optical tweezers in the 1980s.

“The guy called me up yesterday morning, at 5 a.m. Wakes me up, and says, ‘I’m from Sweden. You’ve won the Nobel Prize in physics,” Ashkin says.

Ashkin’s invention can pick up the tiniest particles like viruses without damaging them.

“You know what tweezers are. You can pick up; reach down; grab something; pick it up; look at it; put it down; move it somewhere else; study its properties. You can do this with a light beam,” he says. 

Ashkin says that he still has some of the equipment he used from his days working at New Jersey's Bell Labs. He will split the $1 million prize with two other physics recipients.

“I got half the prize, and those guys get a quarter. So I’ve got $500,000,” Ashkin says.

He says that he will use some of the prize money to pay the way for his family and friends to travel to Sweden when he goes to accept his prize in December.

The 96-year-old still works regularly out of his home. He says that he is conducting experiments with solar energy.