Holger Bech Nielsen is a Danish

Denmark

Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...

 theoretical physicist

Theoretical physics

Theoretical physics is a branch of physics which employs mathematical models and abstractions of physics to rationalize, explain and predict natural phenomena...

, professor at the Niels Bohr Institute

Niels Bohr Institute

The Niels Bohr Institute is a research institute of the University of Copenhagen. The research of the institute spans astronomy, geophysics, nanotechnology, particle physics, quantum mechanics and biophysics....

, at the University of Copenhagen

University of Copenhagen

The University of Copenhagen is the oldest and largest university and research institution in Denmark. Founded in 1479, it has more than 37,000 students, the majority of whom are female , and more than 7,000 employees. The university has several campuses located in and around Copenhagen, with the...

, where he started studying physics in 1961.

Nielsen has made original contributions to theoretical particle physics

Particle physics

Particle physics is a branch of physics that studies the existence and interactions of particles that are the constituents of what is usually referred to as matter or radiation. In current understanding, particles are excitations of quantum fields and interact following their dynamics...

 specifically in the field of string theory

String theory

String theory is an active research framework in particle physics that attempts to reconcile quantum mechanics and general relativity. It is a contender for a theory of everything , a manner of describing the known fundamental forces and matter in a mathematically complete system...

. Independently of Nambu

Yoichiro Nambu

is a Japanese-born American physicist, currently a professor at the University of Chicago. Known for his contributions to the field of theoretical physics, he was awarded a one-half share of the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2008 for the discovery of the mechanism of spontaneous broken symmetry in...

 and Susskind

Leonard Susskind

Leonard Susskind is the Felix Bloch Professor of Theoretical Physics at Stanford University. His research interests include string theory, quantum field theory, quantum statistical mechanics and quantum cosmology...

, he was the first to propose that the Veneziano

Gabriele Veneziano

Gabriele Veneziano, born in Florence, Italy), is an Italian theoretical physicist and the founder of string theory. . Has spent most of his scientific activities at CERN in Geneva, Switzerland...

 model was actually a theory of strings and this is why he is considered among the fathers of string theory. He was awarded the highly esteemed Humboldt Prize

Humboldt Prize

The Humboldt Prize, also known as the Humboldt Research Award, is an award given by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation to internationally renowned scientists and scholars, and is currently valued at € 60,000 with the possibility of further support during the prize winner's life. Up to one...

 in 2001 for his scientific research.