Recent winners of the Nobel Prize in physics through 2010

Recent winners of Nobel Prize in physics

Recent winners of the Nobel Prize in physics, and their research, according to the Nobel Foundation:

— 2010: Russian-born scientists Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov for “groundbreaking experiments regarding the two-dimensional material graphene.”

— 2009: British-American Charles K. Kao, Canadian-American Willard S. Boyle and American George E. Smith for breakthroughs in fiber optics and the invention of an imaging semiconductor circuit.

— 2008: U.S. citizen Yoichiro Nambu and Japanese researchers Makoto Kobayashi and Toshihide Maskawa for work on “spontaneous broken symmetry” in subatomic physics.

— 2007: France’s Albert Fert and Germany’s Peter Gruenberg for work on the discovery of giant magnetoresistance.

— 2006: Americans John C. Mather and George F. Smoot for work examining the infancy of the universe, aiding the understanding of galaxies and stars and increasing support for the Big Bang theory of the beginning of the universe.

— 2005: Americans John L. Hall and Roy J. Glauber and German Theodor W. Haensch, for research explaining the behavior of light particles and determining the frequency of light with great precision.

— 2004: Americans David J. Gross, H. David Politzer and Frank Wilczeck, for their work in the discovery and exploration of strong force and quarks.

— 2003: Alexei A. Abrikosov, United States and Russia, Anthony J. Leggett, United States and Britain, and Vitaly L. Ginzburg, Russia, for their work concerning superconductivity and superfluidity in the field of quantum physics.

— 2002: Raymond Davis, Jr., United States, and Masatoshi Koshiba, Japan, for their research into cosmic neutrinos; and Riccardo Giacconi, United States, for pioneering contributions to astrophysics that led to the discovery of cosmic X-ray sources.

— 2001: Eric A. Cornell and Carl E. Wieman, United States, and U.S.-based researcher Wolfgang Ketterle of Germany for creating a new state of matter, an ultra-cold gas known as Bose-Einstein condensate.

— 2000: Zhores I. Alferov, Russia, U.S.-based researcher Herbert Kroemer of Germany, and Jack Kilby, United States, for work that helped create modern information technology.

— 1999: Gerardus ‘t Hooft and Martinus J.G. Veltman, Netherlands, for their theoretical work on the structure and motion of subatomic particles.

— 1998: Robert B. Laughlin, United States, Horst L. Stoermer, Germany, and Daniel C. Tsui, United States, for discovering a new form of quantum fluid that gives more profound insights into the general inner structure and dynamics of matter.

— 1997: Steven Chu and William D. Phillips, United States, and Claude Cohen-Tannoudji, France, for their work in cooling and trapping atoms with laser light.

— 1996: David M. Lee, Douglas D. Osheroff and Robert C. Richardson, United States, for their discovery of superfluidity in helium-3.

— 1995: Martin L. Perl and Frederick Reines, United States, for pioneering experimental contributions to lepton physics.

— 1994: Bertram N. Brockhouse, Canada, and Clifford G. Shull, United States, for developing methods of neutron scattering techniques for studies of condensed matter.

— 1993: Russell A. Hulse and Joseph H. Taylor, Jr., United States, for finding a twin star: a binary pulsar that helped prove Einstein’s theory of relativity.

— 1992: Georges Charpak, France, for developing particle detectors and the multiwire proportional chamber.

— 1991: Pierres-Gilles de Gennes, France, for developing systems for analyzing complex matter such as liquid crystals and polymers.

— 1990: Jerome I. Friedman and Henry W. Kendall, United States, and Richard E. Taylor, Canada, for investigating the scattering of electrons and refining models of quarks.

— 1989: Norman F. Ramsey and Hans G. Dehmelt, United States, and Wolfgang Paul, West Germany, for inventing methods used in atomic clocks and ion trap techniques.

— 1988: Leon M. Lederman, Melvin Schwartz and Jack Steinberger, United States, for developing the neutrino beam and discovering new types of neutrinos.

— 1987: J. Georg Bednorz, West Germany, and K. Alexander Muller, Switzerland, for work revealing superconductivity in ceramics.

— 1986: Ernst Ruska and Gerd Binnig, West Germany, and Heinrich Rohrer, Switzerland, for designing the electron and scanning tunneling microscopes.

— 1985: Klaus von Klitzing, West Germany, for discovering the quantized Hall effect.

— 1984: Carlo Rubbia, Italy, and Simon van der Meer, Netherlands, for contributions to the discovery of field particles involved in weak interaction.

— 1983: Subramanyan Chandrasekhar and William A. Fowler, United States, for theories explaining the chemical and physical process between stars and the universe.

— 1982: Kenneth G. Wilson, United States, for developing the theory of phase transitions.

— 1981: Nicolaas Bloembergen and Arthur L. Schawlow, United States, and Kai M. Siegbahn, Sweden, for contributing to the development of laser and electron spectroscopy.

— 1980: James Cronin and Val Fitch, United States, for discovering new aspects of neutral K-mesons.