The Nobel prize in physics for this year was just awarded. This got me thinking…
The Nobel prize has a reputation of being one of the most illustrious accolades that mankind awards. The concept was from the mind (and will) of Alfred Nobel who was a renowned Swedish chemist, inventor and industrialist. Dynamite being one of his better known ‘contributions’. The prizes were first awarded in 1901, in the categories of: Peace, Literature, Chemistry, Medicine, and of course Physics. (From 1969 on there was an addition award for Economic Science)
Of interest here of course are the winners in the Physics category.
1901 Wilhelm Röntgen | The discovery of x-rays
1902 Henrik Lorentz / Pieter Zeeman | The influence of magnetism upon radiation
1903 Antoine Henri Becquerel / Pierre Currie / Maria Currie | Radioactivity and related phenomena
1904 Lord Raleigh | Gas densities and the discovery of Argon
1905 Phillip Eduard Anton von Lenard | Cathode Rays
1906 Joseph John Thomson | Conduction of electricity by gases
1907 Albert Abraham Michelson | Spectroscopic investigations using precision optical instruments
1908 Gabriel Lippmann | Reproduction of colours photography using interference phenomena
1909 Guglielmo Marconi / Karl Ferdinand Braun | Wireless Telegraphy
1910 Johannes Diderick van der Waals | Equation of state for gases and liquids
1911 Wilhelm Wien | Laws governing the radiation of heat.
1912 Nils Gustaf Dalén | Automatic valves used with gas accumulators in buoys and lighthouses
1913 Heike Kemerlingh-Onnes | Properties of matter at low temperature (liquid helium)
1914 Max von Laue | Diffraction of X-rays by crystals
1915 William Henry Bragg / William Lawrence Bragg | Crystal Structure
1916 World War I No award given
1917 Charles Glover Barkla | Characteristic Röntgen Radiation of the elements
1918 Max Planck | Energy quanta
1919 Johannes Stark | Splitting of Spectral Lines in Electric Fields
1920 Charles Édouard Guillaume | Precision measurements from studying nickel-steel alloys
1921 Albert Einstein | Photoelectric Effect
1922 Niels Bohr | Structure of Atoms
1923 Robert Andrews Millikan | Work on the elementary charge
1924 Manne Siegbahn | X-ray spectroscopy
1925 James Franck / Gustav Hertz | Laws governing the impact of an electron on an atom
1926 Jean Baptiste Perrin | Sedimentation Equilibrium
1927 Arthur Compton / Charles Thomson Rees Wilson | The Compton effect and particle vapor trails
1928 Owen Willans | Thermionic Phenomenon
1929 Louis Victor Pierre Raymond, 7th Duc de Broglie | Wave nature of electrons
1930 Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman | Work on the scattering of light
1931 Not awarded
1932 Werner Heisenberg | THE CREATION OF QUANTUM MECHANICS
1933 Erwin Schrödinger / Paul Dirac | New productive forms of atomic theory
1934 Not awarded
1935 James Chadwick | Discovery of the neutron
1936 Victor Francis Hess / Carl David Anderson | Discovery of: Cosmic Radiation / Positron
1937 Clinton Joseph Davisson / George Paget Thomson | Diffraction of electrons by crystals
1938 Enrico Fermi | Existence of new elements produced by neutron irradiation
1939 Ernest Lawrence | Invention of the cyclotron
1940 World War II no award given
1941 World War II no award given
1942 World War II no award given
1943 Otto Stern | Discovery of the magnetic moment and the proton
1944 Isidor Issac Rabi | Resonance method of recording magnetic properties of atomic nuclei
1945 Wolfgang Pauli | Discovery of the Exclusion Principle
1946 Percy Williams Bridgman | Discoveries in high pressure physics
1947 Edward Victor Appleton | Physics of the upper atmosphere
1948 Patrick Maynard Stuart Blackett | Development of the Wilson cloud chamber method
1949 Hideki Yukawa | Prediction of mesons
1950 Cecil Frank Powell | Development of photographic method of studying nuclear processes
1951 John Cockcroft / Ernest Thomas Sinton Walton | Transmutation of atomic nuclei
1952 Felix Bloch / Edward Mills Purcell | Discoveries in nuclear magnetic precision measurement
1953 Frits Zemike | Invention of the Phase Contrast Microscope
1954 Max Born / Walter Bothe | Statistical interpretation of the wave function / coincidence method
1955 Willis Eugene Lamb / Polykarp Kusch | Fine structure of the hydrogen spectrum / magnetic moment of the electron
1956 John Bardeen / Walter Brattain / William Shockley | Semiconductors and Transistor effect
1957 Tsung-Dao Lee / Chen-Ning Yang | Investigations of Parity Laws
1958 Pavel Cherenkov / Ilya Frank / Igor Tamm | Discovery of the Cherenkov Effect
1959 Emilio Segré / Owen Chamberlain | Discovery of the Antiproton
1960 Donald Arthur Glaser | Invention of the Bubble Chamber
1961 Robert Hofstadter / Rudolf Mössbauer | Nucleon structure / resonance absorption of gamma radiation
1962 Lev Davidovich Landau | Pioneering theories of condensed matter especially liquid helium
1963 Eugene Wigner / Maria Goeppert-Mayer / J. Hans D. Jensen | Nuclear Shell Structure
1964 Nicolay Basov / Alexander Prokhorov / Charles Townes | Quantum Electronics
1965 Richard Feynman / Julian Schwinger / Shin’ichirō Tomonaga | Quantum Electrodynamics
1966 Alfred Kastler | Development of optical methods for studying Hertzian resonances in atoms
1967 Has Albretch Bethe | Discoveries concerning energy production in stars
1968 Luis Walter Alvarez | Contributions to elementary particle physics – resonance states
1969 Murray Gell-Mann | Classifications of elementary particles and their interactions
1970 Hannes Olof Gösta Alfvén / Louis Néel | Magneto-hydrodynamics / solid state physics
1971 Dennis Gabor | The Holographic Method
1972 John Bardeen / Leone Neil Cooper / John Robert Schrieffer | Superconductivity
1973 Leo Esaki / Ivar Giaever / Brian Josephson | Semiconductors / Superconductors / Joesphson effect
1974 Martin Ryle / Antony Hewish | Radio Astrophysics – aperture synthesis / pulsars
1975 Aage Bohr / Ben Roy Mottelson / Leo James Rainwater | Structure of the atomic nucleus
1976 Burton Richter / Samuel Chao Chung Ting | Discovery of a new kind of heavy elementary particle
1977 Philip Anderson / Nevill Mott / John Hasbrouck Van Vick | Magnetic and disordered systems
1978 Pytor Kapitsa / Arno Penzias / Robert Wilson | Low-temp physics / Cosmic microwave background radiation
1979 Sheldon Glashow / Abdul Salam / Steven Weinberg | Prediction of weak neutral current
1980 James Cronin / Val Logsdon Fitch | Symmetry principles in the decay of K-mesons
1981 Nicolaas Bloembergen / Arthur Schawlow / Kai Manne Börje Siegbahn | Laser Spectroscopy / Electron Spectroscopy
1982 Kenneth Wilson | Critical phenomena with phase transitions
1983 Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar / William Fowler | Evolution of stars / Formation of chemical elements in the universe
1984 Carlo Rubbia / Simon van der Meer | Discovery of field particles W and Z
1985 Krause von Klitzing | Discovery of the quantized Hall Effect
1986 Ernst Ruska / Geri Binnig / Heinrich Roher | Electron Microscope / Scanning tunneling microscope
1987 Johannes Georg Bednorz / Karl Alexander Müller | Superconductivity in ceramic materials
1988 Leon Max Lederman / Melvin Schwartz / Jack Steinberger | Muon neutrino
1989 Norman Ramsey / Hans Dehmelt / Wolfgang Pauli | Separated oscillatory fields / Ion trap
1990 Jerome Friedman / Henry Kendall / Richard Taylor | Development of the quark model
1991 Pierre-Gilles de Gennes | Work in liquid crystals and polymers
1992 Georges Charpak | Multiwire proportional chamber particle detectors
1993 Russel Hulse / Joseph Hooton Taylor Jr. | Discovery of a new type of pulsar
1994 Bertram Brockhouse / Clifford Glenwood Shull | Neutron Scattering and Condensed Matter
1995 Martin Perl / Frederick Reines | Tau Lepton / Neutrino
1996 David Lee / Douglas Osheroff / Robert Richardson | Superfluidity in helium-3
1997 Steven Chu / Claude Cohen-Tannoudji / William Phillips | Cool and trap atoms with laser light
1998 Robert Laughlin / Horst Störmer / Daniel Tsui | Discovery of a new form of quantum field
1999 Gerard ‘t Hooft / Martinis Veltman | Elucidating the quantum structure of electroweak interactions
2000 Zhores Alferov ? Herbert Kroemer / Jack St. Clair Kilby | Semiconductor heterostructures / integrated circuits
2001 Eric Cornell / Carl Wieman / Wolfgang Ketterie | Achieving Bose-Einstein condensation
2002 Raymond Davis Jr. / Masatoshi Koshiba / Riccardo Giacconi | Cosmic neutrinos / cosmic x-ray sources
2003 Alexei Abrikosov / Vitaly Ginzburg / Anthony Leggett | Superconductors and Superfluids
2004 David Gross / Hugh Politzer / Frank Wilczek | Asymptotic freedom – strong interaction
2005 Roy Glauber / John Hall / Theodor Hänsch | Quantum theory of optical coherence / laser-based precision spectroscopy
2006 John Mather / George Smoot | Blackbody form of cosmic microwave background radiation
2007 Albert Fert / Peter Grünberg | Discovery of Giant Magnetoresistance
2008 Makoto Kobayashi / Toshihide Maskawa / Yoichiro Nambu | Broken symmetries
2009 Charles Kao / William Boyle / George Smith | Fiber Optic Communication / CCD Sensor
2010 Andre Geim / Konstantin Novoselov | Graphene
2011 Saul Perlmutter / Brian Schmidt / Adam Riess | Accelerating expansion of the universe
2012 Serge Haroche / David Wineland | Measuring and manipulating individual quantum systems
2013 François Englert / Peter Higgs | understanding mass of subatomic particles
2014 Isamu Akasaki / Hiroshi Amano / Shuji Nakamura | Invention of efficient blue LED’s
2015 Takaaki Kajita / Arthur McDonald | Discovery of neutrino oscillations (mass of neutrinos)
2016 David Thouless / F. Duncan Haldane / John Kosterlitz | Topological phases of matter
2017 Kip Thorne / Barry Barish | Observation of gravitational waves
2018 Arthur Ashkin / Gérard Mourou / Donna Strickland | laser physics
2019 James Peebles / Michael Mayor / Didier Queloz | Physical cosmology / discovery of an exoplanet
2020 Roger Penrose / Reinhard Genzel / Andrea Ghez | Black hole formation is a robust prediction of the General Theory of Relativity / Discovery of a supermassive compact object in the centre of our galaxy
There you have it…
Why?
Because in the end it’s all physics….