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Watch live: announcement of the Nobel Prize in Physics 2016

Posted: 4 October 2016 | | No comments yet

Click the video to watch the results live from the Nobel Prize Announcements 2016!

Live update 11:23 am GMT:

The Nobel Prize in Physics 2016 was divided, one half awarded to David J. Thouless, the other half jointly to F. Duncan M. Haldane and J. Michael Kosterlitz “for theoretical discoveries of topological phase transitions and topological phases of matter”.

Live update 11:31 am GMT:

Biographical information is presented on the winners and follows below.

The three physicists discovered totally unexpected behaviours of solid materials – and came up with a mathematical framework to explain these weird properties. The discoveries have paved the way for designing new materials with all sorts of novel properties.

David J. Thouless

Born 1934 in in Bearsden, UK, David J. Thouless is Emeritus Professor at the University of Washington. He has made many theoretical contributions to the understanding of extended systems of atoms and electrons, and of nucleons. His work includes work on superconductivity phenomena, properties of nuclear matter, and excited collective motions within nuclei.

F. Duncan M. Haldane

Born 1951 in London, UK, F. Duncan M. Haldane is Eugene Higgins Professor of Physics at the physics department of Princeton University in the United States. He is known for a wide variety of fundamental contributions to condensed matter physics including the theory of Luttinger liquids, the theory of one-dimensional Spin chains, the theory of Fractional Quantum Hall Effect, Exclusion Statistics, Entanglement Spectra and much more.

John Michael Kosterlitz

Born 1942 in Aberdeen, UK, John Michael Kosterlitz is Harrison E. Farnsworth Professor of Physics at Brown University. He does research in condensed matter theory, one- and two-dimensional physics, in phase transitions: random systems, electron localization, and spin glasses, and in critical dynamics: melting and freezing.

The prize amount is 8 million Swedish krona, with one half to David Thouless and the other half to be shared between Duncan Haldane and Michael Kosterlitz.

Click the video to watch the results live from the Nobel Prize Announcements 2016!