Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics
Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics | |
---|---|
Description | Transformative advances in fundamental physics |
Country | International |
Presented by | Fundamental Physics Prize Foundation |
First awarded | 2012 |
Website | Official Website |
The Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics[1] is awarded by the Fundamental Physics Prize Foundation, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to awarding physicists involved in fundamental research. The foundation was founded in July 2012 by Russian physicist and internet entrepreneur Yuri Milner.[2]
As of September 2018[update], this prize is the most lucrative academic prize in the world[3] and is more than twice the amount given to the Nobel Prize awardees.[4][5] This prize is also dubbed by the media as the "XXI Century Nobel".[6]
Nominations and awards money
As of September 2018[update], anyone can nominate a candidate through the FPP website.[2] As of September 2018[update], each award is worth $3 million. The monetary value exceeds that of the prestigious Nobel Prize, which in 2012 stood at slightly more than $1.2 million.[4][6]
Physics Frontiers Prize laureates (those on the shortlist for the Fundamental Physics Prize) who do not go on to be awarded the Fundamental Physics Prize each receive (as of 2013) $300,000 and are automatically re-nominated for the Fundamental Physics Prize each year for the next 5 years.[2]
Difference between Breakthrough Prize and Special Breakthrough Prize
"Unlike the annual Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics, the Special Prize is not limited to recent discoveries." As of 2018 the Special Prize, which "can be awarded at any time in recognition of an extraordinary scientific achievement", has been awarded on 4 occasions (twice in 2013, and once in 2016 and 2018). The monetary value of the award is also $3 million.[7]
New Horizons in Physics Prize
![]() | This section may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. The specific problem is: convert text to table. (September 2018) |
The New Horizons in Physics Prize, awarded to promising junior researchers, carries an award of $100,000.[8]
The winners of 2015 New Horizons in Physics Prize are Sean Hartnoll of Stanford University, for applying holographic methods to obtain remarkable new insights into strongly interacting quantum matter; Philip C. Schuster and Natalia Toro of Perimeter Institute, for pioneering the “simplified models” framework for new physics searches at the Large Hadron Collider, as well as spearheading new experimental searches for dark sectors using high-intensity electron beams; Horacio Casini and Marina Huerta of CONICET and Instituto Balseiro, Universidad Nacional de Cuyo; Shinsei Ryu of University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and Tadashi Takayanagi of Kyoto University for fundamental ideas about entropy in quantum field theory and quantum gravity.[citation needed]
The winners of 2016 New Horizons in Physics Prize are B. Andrei Bernevig, Liang Fu, Xiao-Liang Qi; Raphael Flauger, Leonardo Senatore; and Yuji Tachikawa.
The winners of 2017 New Horizons in Physics Prize are Asimina Arvanitaki, Peter W. Graham, and Surjeet Rajendran; Simone Giombi and Xi Yin; and Frans Pretorius.
The winners of 2018 New Horizons in Physics Prize are Christopher Hirata, Douglas Stanford, and Andrea Young.
Year of award | New Horizons in Physics Prize laureates |
Awarded for | Alma mater | Institutional affiliation when prize awarded |
---|---|---|---|---|
2013 | Niklas Beisert | Development of powerful exact methods to describe a quantum gauge theory and its associated string theory | ETH Zurich | |
Davide Gaiotto | Far-reaching new insights about duality, gauge theory, and geometry, and specially for his work linking theories in different dimensions in most unexpected ways | Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics | ||
Zohar Komargodski[9] | Dynamics of four-dimensional field theories and in particular his proof (with Schwimmer) of the “a-theorem” which has solved a long-standing problem | Weizmann Institute of Science | ||
2014 | Freddy Cachazo | Uncovering numerous structures underlying scattering amplitudes in gauge theories and gravity | Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics | |
Shiraz Minwalla | Pioneering contributions to the study of string theory and quantum field theory; and in particular his work on the connection between the equations of fluid dynamics and Albert Einstein’s equations of general relativity | Tata Institute of Fundamental Research | ||
Slava Rychkov | Developing new techniques in conformal field theory, reviving the conformal bootstrap program for constraining the spectrum of operators and the structure constants in 3D and 4D CFT’s | Pierre-and-Marie-Curie University, (currently at IHÉS) |
FPP Laureates
The following is a listing of the laureates, by year (including Special Prize winners).
Trophy
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/60/Charles_L._Kane.jpg/220px-Charles_L._Kane.jpg)
The Fundamental Physics Prize trophy, a work of art created by Danish-Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson,[16] is a silver sphere with a coiled vortex inside. The form is, in fact, a toroid, or doughnut shape, resulting from two sets of intertwining three-dimensional spirals. Found in nature, these spirals are seen in animal horns, nautilus shells, whirlpools, and even galaxies and black holes.[17]
Ceremony
The name of the 2013 prize winner was unveiled at the culmination of a ceremony which took place on the evening of March 20, 2013 at the Geneva International Conference Centre.[18] The ceremony was hosted by Hollywood actor and science enthusiast Morgan Freeman.[19] The evening honored the 2013 laureates − 16 outstanding scientists including Stephen Hawking[20] and CERN scientists who led the decades-long effort to discover the Higgs-like particle at the Large Hadron Collider.[21] Sarah Brightman and Russian pianist Denis Matsuev performed for the guests of the ceremony.
Criticism
Some have expressed reservations about the award.[22]
What's not to like? Quite a lot, according to a handful of scientists... You cannot buy class, as the old saying goes, and these upstart entrepreneurs cannot buy their prizes the prestige of the Nobels. The new awards are an exercise in self-promotion for those behind them, say scientists. They could distort the meritocracy of peer-review-led research. They could cement the status quo of peer-reviewed research. They do not fund peer-reviewed research. They perpetuate the myth of the lone genius.... As much as some scientists may grumble about the new awards, the financial doping that they bring to research and the wisdom of the goals behind them, two things seem clear. First, most researchers would accept such a prize if they were offered one. Second, it is surely a good thing that the money and attention come to science rather than go elsewhere. It is fair to criticize and question the mechanism—that is the culture of research, after all—but it is the prize-givers' money to do with as they please. It is wise to accept such gifts with gratitude and grace.[23]
See also
References
- ^ "Breakthrough Prize – Fundamental Physics Breakthrough Prize – Prizes". breakthroughprize.org. Retrieved 2018-09-10.
- ^ a b c d e f "Fundamental Physics Prize - About". Fundamental Physics Prize. Archived from the original on 5 November 2012. Retrieved 4 August 2012.
{{cite web}}
: Unknown parameter|deadurl=
ignored (|url-status=
suggested) (help) - ^ Ghosh, Pallab (2018-09-06). "Bell Burnell: Physics star gives away £2.3m prize". BBC News.
- ^ a b "9 Scientists Receive a New Physics Prize". The New York Times. 31 July 2012. Retrieved 2012-08-04.
- ^ New Russian physics prize three times bigger than Nobel, The Voice of Russia
- ^ a b "Winners of life science prize revealed". Financial Times.
- ^ a b "Breakthrough Prize – Special Breakthrough Prize In Fundamental Physics Awarded To Jocelyn Bell Burnell For Discovery Of Pulsars". breakthroughprize.org. Retrieved 2018-09-09.
- ^ "Fundamental Physics Prize News". fundamentalphysicsprize.org. Archived from the original on 2012-12-14.
{{cite web}}
: Unknown parameter|deadurl=
ignored (|url-status=
suggested) (help) - ^ Rinat, Zafrir (2012-12-12). "Israeli Wins Prestigious International Physics Prize". Haaretz.
- ^ https://web.archive.org/web/20140319060101/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ndsb4PJSqKc. Archived from the original on March 19, 2014. Retrieved April 17, 2013.
{{cite web}}
: Missing or empty|title=
(help); Unknown parameter|deadurl=
ignored (|url-status=
suggested) (help) - ^ a b "Fundamental Physics Prize - News". Fundamental Physics Prize. Archived from the original on 14 December 2012. Retrieved 11 December 2012.
{{cite web}}
: Unknown parameter|deadurl=
ignored (|url-status=
suggested) (help) - ^ "Fundamental Physics Prize - News". Fundamental Physics Prize (2016). Retrieved 4 May 2016.
- ^ "Breakthrough Prize – Laureates". breakthroughprize.org.
- ^ "Congratulations to Charles Bennett, Gary Hinshaw, Norman Jarosik, Lyman Page Jr., David Spergel and the WMAP Science Team for winning the 2018 Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics". science.gsfc.nasa.gov. NASA. 3 December 2017. Retrieved 8 December 2017.
- ^ "Breakthrough Prize – Laureates". breakthroughprize.org.
- ^ https://web.archive.org/web/20140531053837/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ox024Yu2ViU. Archived from the original on May 31, 2014. Retrieved April 17, 2013.
{{cite web}}
: Missing or empty|title=
(help); Unknown parameter|deadurl=
ignored (|url-status=
suggested) (help) - ^ The Breakthrough Prize trophy.
- ^ Press Release http://www.fundamentalphysicsprize.org/news/news4
- ^ "Fundamental Physics Prize Ceremony 2013 - Part 1". Archived from the original on July 27, 2013. Retrieved April 17, 2013.
{{cite web}}
: Unknown parameter|deadurl=
ignored (|url-status=
suggested) (help) - ^ YouTube. youtube.com.
- ^ "Fundamental Physics Prize Ceremony 2013 - Part 2". Archived from the original on May 27, 2014. Retrieved April 17, 2013.
{{cite web}}
: Unknown parameter|deadurl=
ignored (|url-status=
suggested) (help) - ^ Zeeya Merali (12 June 2013). "Science prizes: The new Nobels". Nature. 498 (7453): 152–154. doi:10.1038/498152a. PMID 23765473. Retrieved 22 June 2013.
- ^ Editorial (12 June 2013). "Young upstarts". Nature. 498 (7453): 138. doi:10.1038/498138a. PMID 23776948. Retrieved 22 June 2013.
- ^ "$3 Million Prizes Will Go to Mathematicians, Too", The New York Times