Sakurai Prize
Encyclopedia
The J. J. Sakurai Prize for Theoretical Particle Physics, is presented by the American Physical Society
at its annual "April Meeting", and honors outstanding achievement in particle physics theory. The prize, considered one of the most prestigious in physics, consists of a monetary award, a certificate citing the contributions recognized by the award, and a travel allowance for the recipient to attend the presentation. The award is endowed by the family and friends of particle physicist J. J. Sakurai
. The prize has been awarded annually since 1985.
American Physical Society
The American Physical Society is the world's second largest organization of physicists, behind the Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft. The Society publishes more than a dozen scientific journals, including the world renowned Physical Review and Physical Review Letters, and organizes more than 20...
at its annual "April Meeting", and honors outstanding achievement in particle physics theory. The prize, considered one of the most prestigious in physics, consists of a monetary award, a certificate citing the contributions recognized by the award, and a travel allowance for the recipient to attend the presentation. The award is endowed by the family and friends of particle physicist J. J. Sakurai
J. J. Sakurai
was a Japanese-American particle physicist and theorist. He authored the popular graduate text Modern Quantum Mechanics and other texts such as Invariance Principles and Elementary Particles and Advanced Quantum Mechanics ....
. The prize has been awarded annually since 1985.
Prize recipients
- 2012 Guido Altarelli, Torbjörn Sjöstrand, and Bryan Webber.
- 2011 Chris QuiggChris QuiggChris Quigg is a theoretical physicist at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory . He graduated from Yale University in 1966 and received his Ph.D. in 1970 under the tutelage of J. D. Jackson at the University of California, Berkeley...
, Estia Eichten, Ian HinchliffeIan HinchliffeDr. Ian Hinchliffe is a physicist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.He obtained his BA and his D.Phil in physics from Oxford University....
, and Kenneth Lane: "For their work, separately and collectively, to chart a course of the exploration of TeV scale physics using multi-TeV hadron colliders." - 2010 Gerald GuralnikGerald GuralnikGerald Stanford Guralnik is the Chancellor’s Professor of Physics at Brown University. He is most famous for his co-discovery of the Higgs mechanism and Higgs Boson with C. R. Hagen and Tom Kibble...
, C. R. HagenC. R. HagenCarl Richard Hagen is a professor of particle physics at the University of Rochester. He is most noted for his contributions to the Standard Model and Symmetry breaking as well as the co-discovery of the Higgs mechanism and Higgs boson with Gerald Guralnik and Tom Kibble...
, Tom KibbleTom W. B. KibbleThomas Walter Bannerman Kibble, FRS, is a British scientist and senior research investigator at The Blackett Laboratory, at Imperial College London, UK. His research interests are in quantum field theory, especially the interface between high-energy particle physics and cosmology...
, Robert BroutRobert BroutRobert Brout was an American-Belgian theoretical physicist who has made significant contributions in elementary particle physics...
, Francois EnglertFrançois EnglertFrançois Englert is a Belgian theoretical physicist. He was awarded the 2010 J. J. Sakurai Prize for Theoretical Particle Physics , the Wolf Prize in Physics in 2004 and the High Energy and Particle Prize of the European Physical Society François Englert (born 6 November 1932) is a...
, and Peter HiggsPeter HiggsPeter Ware Higgs, FRS, FRSE, FKC , is an English theoretical physicist and an emeritus professor at the University of Edinburgh....
: "For elucidation of the properties of spontaneous symmetry breakingSymmetry breakingSymmetry breaking in physics describes a phenomenon where small fluctuations acting on a system which is crossing a critical point decide the system's fate, by determining which branch of a bifurcation is taken. To an outside observer unaware of the fluctuations , the choice will appear arbitrary...
in four-dimensional relativistic gauge theoryGauge theoryIn physics, gauge invariance is the property of a field theory in which different configurations of the underlying fundamental but unobservable fields result in identical observable quantities. A theory with such a property is called a gauge theory...
and of the mechanism for the consistent generation of vector bosonVector bosonIn particle physics, a vector boson is a boson with the spin quantum number equal to 1.The vector bosons considered to be elementary particles in the Standard Model are the gauge bosons or, the force carriers of fundamental interactions: the photon of electromagnetism, the W and Z bosons of the...
masses." See also 1964 PRL symmetry breaking papers, Higgs mechanismHiggs mechanismIn particle physics, the Higgs mechanism is the process in which gauge bosons in a gauge theory can acquire non-vanishing masses through absorption of Nambu-Goldstone bosons arising in spontaneous symmetry breaking....
, and Higgs bosonHiggs bosonThe Higgs boson is a hypothetical massive elementary particle that is predicted to exist by the Standard Model of particle physics. Its existence is postulated as a means of resolving inconsistencies in the Standard Model...
. - 2009 Davison E. Soper, John C. Collins and R. Keith EllisRichard Keith EllisRichard Keith Ellis is a British theoretical physicist, at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory and a leading authority on perturbative Quantum Chromodynamics....
: "For work in perturbative Quantum ChromodynamicsQuantum chromodynamicsIn theoretical physics, quantum chromodynamics is a theory of the strong interaction , a fundamental force describing the interactions of the quarks and gluons making up hadrons . It is the study of the SU Yang–Mills theory of color-charged fermions...
, including applications to problems pivotal to the interpretation of high energy particle collisions" - 2008 Alexei Smirnov and Stanislav MikheyevStanislav MikheyevStanislav Pavlovich Mikheyev was a Russian physicist known for a co-discovering of the MSW effect.-Education and research:Stanislav Mikheyev graduated from Faculty of Physics of Moscow State University in 1965. Then he became a researcher at Lebedev Physical Institute...
: "For pioneering and influential work on the enhancement of neutrino oscillations in matter, which is essential to a quantitative understanding of the solar neutrino flux" - 2007 Stanley Brodsky: "For applications of perturbative quantum field theory to critical questions of elementary particle physics, in particular, to the analysis of hard exclusive strong interaction processes"
- 2006 Savas DimopoulosSavas DimopoulosSavas Dimopoulos is a Greek particle physicist at Stanford University. He was born in Istanbul, Turkey and later moved to Athens due to ethnic tensions in Turkey during the 1950s and 1960s. Dimopoulos studied as an undergraduate at the University of Houston...
: "For his creative ideas on dynamical symmetry breaking, supersymmetry, and extra spatial dimensions, which have shaped theoretical research on TeV-scale physics, thereby inspiring a wide range of experiments" - 2005 Susumu OkuboSusumu Okubois a Japanese theoretical physicist at the University of Rochester.Ōkubo began study at the University of Tokyo in 1949 and received his bachelor's degree there in 1952. He became a graduate student at the University of Rochester in 1954, where he earned his PhD in 1958 with Robert Marshak as...
: For groundbreaking investigations into the pattern of hadronic masses and decay rates, which provided essential clues into the development of the quark model, and for demonstrating that CP violationCP violationIn particle physics, CP violation is a violation of the postulated CP-symmetry: the combination of C-symmetry and P-symmetry . CP-symmetry states that the laws of physics should be the same if a particle were interchanged with its antiparticle , and left and right were swapped...
permits partial decay rate asymmetries" - 2004 Ikaros Bigi and Anthony Ichiro Sanda: For pioneering theoretical insights that pointed the way to the very fruitful experimental study of CP violation in B decays, and for continuing contributions to the fields of CP and heavy flavor physics"
- 2003 Alfred Mueller and George StermanGeorge StermanGeorge Franklin Sterman is an American theoretical physicist and the Director of the C. N. Yang Institute for Theoretical Physics at Stony Brook University where he holds the rank Distinguished Professor.-Background:...
: "For developing concepts and techniques in QCD, such as infrared safety and factorization in hard processes, which permitted precise quantitative predictions and experimental tests, and thereby helped to establish QCD as the theory of the strong interactions" - 2002 William J. Marciano and Alberto Sirlin: "For their pioneering work on radiative corrections, which made precision electroweak studies a powerful method of probing the Standard Model and searching for new physics"
- 2001 Nathan IsgurNathan IsgurNathan Isgur was a theoretical physicist from the U.S. and Canada.-Education:Isgur was born in South Houston, Texas and finished high school at South Houston High School. He was a scholarship student at Caltech. where his initial interest was in biology, but he moved toward physics and graduated...
, Mikhail Voloshin, Mark Wise: "For the construction of the heavy quark mass expansion and the discovery of the heavy quark symmetry in quantum chromodynamics, which led to a quantitative theory of the decays of c and b flavored hadrons" - 2000 Curtis CallanCurtis CallanCurtis Callan is a theoretical physicist and a professor at Princeton University. He has conducted research in gauge theory, string theory, instantons, black holes, strong interactions, and many other topics...
: "For his classic formulation of the renormalization groupRenormalization groupIn theoretical physics, the renormalization group refers to a mathematical apparatus that allows systematic investigation of the changes of a physical system as viewed at different distance scales...
, his contributions to instantonInstantonAn instanton is a notion appearing in theoretical and mathematical physics. Mathematically, a Yang–Mills instanton is a self-dual or anti-self-dual connection in a principal bundle over a four-dimensional Riemannian manifold that plays the role of physical space-time in non-abelian gauge theory...
physics and to the theory of monopoles and stringsString theoryString 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...
" - 1999 Mikhail ShifmanMikhail Shifman-External links:*****...
, Arkady Vainshtein, and Valentine Zakharov: "For fundamental contributions to the understanding of non-perturbative QCD, non-leptonic weak decays, and the analytic properties of supersymmetric gauge theories" - 1998 Leonard SusskindLeonard SusskindLeonard 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...
: "For his pioneering contributions to hadronic string models, lattice gauge theories, quantum chromodynamics, and dynamical symmetry breaking" - 1997 Thomas Appelquist: "For his pioneering work on charmonium and on the de-coupling of heavy particles"
- 1996 William A. BardeenWilliam A. BardeenWilliam Allen Bardeen is an American theoretical physicist at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory. He is the son of John Bardeen and Jane Maxwell Bardeen....
: "For fundamental insights into the structure and meaning of the axial anomaly and for contributions to the understanding of perturbative quantum chromodynamics" - 1995 Howard GeorgiHoward GeorgiHoward Mason Georgi III, born January 6, 1947 in San Bernardino, California, is Harvard College Professor and Mallinckrodt Professor of Physics at Harvard University...
: "For his pioneering contributions toward the unification of strong and electroweak interactionElectroweak interactionIn particle physics, the electroweak interaction is the unified description of two of the four known fundamental interactions of nature: electromagnetism and the weak interaction. Although these two forces appear very different at everyday low energies, the theory models them as two different...
s, and for his application of quantum chromodynamics to the properties and interactions of hadrons" - 1994 Yoichiro NambuYoichiro Nambuis 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...
: "For his many fundamental contributions to field theory and particle physics, including the understanding of the pion as the signaler of spontaneous breaking of chiral symmetry" - 1993 Mary K. Gaillard: "For contributions to particle physics phenomenology and theory, and in particular for her work with Ben Lee and others applying QCD to K meson mixing and decays and to the bound states of charmed quarks"
- 1992 Lincoln WolfensteinLincoln WolfensteinLincoln Wolfenstein is an American particle physicist who studies the weak interaction. Wolfenstein was born in 1923 and obtained his PhD in 1949 from the University of Chicago. He retired from Carnegie Mellon University in 2000 after being a faculty member for 52 years, but still lectures there...
: "For his many contributions to the theory of weak interactions, particularly CP violation and the properties of neutrinos" - 1991 Vladimir GribovVladimir GribovVladimir Naumovich Gribov was a prominent Russian theoretical physicist, who worked on high-energy physics, quantum field theory and the Regge theory of the strong interactions.His best known contributions are the pomeron, the DGLAP equations, and the Gribov copies.-Life:Gribov completed his...
: "For his early pioneering work on the high energy behavior of quantum field theories and his elucidating studies of the global structure of non-abelian gauge theories" - 1990 Toichiro Kinoshita: "For his theoretical contributions to precision tests of quantum electrodynamics and the electroweak theory, especially his pioneering work on the computation of the lepton anomalous magnetic moments"
- 1989 Nicola CabibboNicola CabibboNicola Cabibbo was an Italian physicist, best known for his work on the weak interaction. He was also the president of the Italian National Institute of Nuclear Physics from 1983 to 1992, and from 1993 until his death he was the president of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences...
: "For his outstanding contribution in elucidating the structure of the hadronic weak current" - 1988 Stephen L. AdlerStephen L. AdlerStephen Louis Adler is an American physicist specializing in elementary particles and field theory.-Biography:Adler was born in New York City. He received an A.B. degree at Harvard University in 1961, where he was a Putnam Fellow, and a Ph.D. from Princeton University in 1964...
: "For his work in elucidating the consequences of chiral symmetry through sum rules and low energy theorems" - 1987 Luciano MaianiLuciano MaianiLuciano Maiani is a San Marino citizen physicist best known for his prediction of the charm quark with Sheldon Lee Glashow and John Iliopoulos .-Academic history:...
and John IliopoulosJohn IliopoulosJohn Iliopoulos is a Greek physicist and the first person to present the Standard Model of particle physics in a single report. He is best known for his prediction of the charm quark with Sheldon Lee Glashow and Luciano Maiani...
: "For their work on the weak interactions of charmed particles, a crucial step in the development of the modern theory of the fundamental interactions" - 1986 David GrossDavid GrossDavid Jonathan Gross is an American particle physicist and string theorist. Along with Frank Wilczek and David Politzer, he was awarded the 2004 Nobel Prize in Physics for their discovery of asymptotic freedom. He is currently the director and holder of the Frederick W...
, H. David Politzer, and Frank WilczekFrank WilczekFrank Anthony Wilczek is a theoretical physicist from the United States and a Nobel laureate. He is currently the Herman Feshbach Professor of Physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology ....
: "For their analyses of nonabelian gauge theories at short distances, and the implications of these insights for the understanding of the strong interaction between quarks" - 1985 Toshihide MaskawaToshihide Maskawais a Japanese theoretical physicist known for his work on CP-violation who was awarded one quarter of the 2008 Nobel Prize in Physics "for the discovery of the origin of the broken symmetry which predicts the existence of at least three families of quarks in nature."-Biography:A native of Aichi...
and Makoto KobayashiMakoto Kobayashi (physicist)is a Japanese physicist known for his work on CP-violation who was awarded one quarter of the 2008 Nobel Prize in Physics "for the discovery of the origin of the broken symmetry which predicts the existence of at least three families of quarks in nature."- Biography :After completing his PhD at...
: "For their contributions to the theory of electroweak interactions through their general formulation of fermion mass matrix and their prescient inference of the existence of more than four flavors of quarks"