Technology
David Thouless, Duncan Haldane and Michael Kosterlitz are professors of physics at the University of Washington, Princeton and Brown University respectively.
Updated : Oct 04, 2016, 03:48 PM IST
The 2016 Noble Prize in Physics was awarded to David Thouless, Duncan Haldane and Michael Kosterlitz on Tuesday. The Prize was awarded "for theoretical discoveries of topological phase transitions and topological phases of matter”, announced Goran K Hansson, the General Secretary of The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.
David J Thouless, who won one half of the prize, is Emeritus Professor at the University of Washington in Seattle. The other half of the prize is shared by Duncan Haldane, Eugene Higgins Professor of Physics at Princeton, and Michael Kosterlitz, Professor of Physics at Brown University.
The prize in physics is awarded by the Academy which selected the laureate through a majority vote held on Tuesday morning.
Announcement of the 2016 Nobel Prize in Physics https://t.co/rw8kNctASv
— The Nobel Prize (@NobelPrize) October 4, 2016
Their discovery was explained at the press conference using bagels and pretzels.
Member of the Nobel committee for physics explains topology using a cinnamon bun, a bagel and a pretzel https://t.co/gORO04UYam
— The Nobel Prize (@NobelPrize) October 4, 2016
Topology is a branch of mathematics that describes properties that only change step-wise. 2016 #NobelPrize Physics pic.twitter.com/hrMBqG8jT7
— The Nobel Prize (@NobelPrize) October 4, 2016
Phase transition occurs when phases of matter transition between each other, such as when ice melts and becomes water. The most common phases of matter are gas, liquid & solid. In extremely high or low temperatures matter assumes more exotic states. Topology, key to Nobel Laureates’ discoveries, explains why electrical conductivity inside thin layers changes in integer steps.
Haldane has studied matter that forms threads so thin they can be considered one-dimensional. Kosterlitz and Thouless have studied phenomena on surfaces or inside extremely thin layers that can be considered two-dimensional .
The Nobel prize is currently worth 8 million Swedish kronor. The Physics Laureates are in average the youngest of all Laureates, with an average age of 55.
This is what the medal looks like-
#NobelPrize Medal for Physics: Nature - a goddess resembling Isis - and the veil is held up by the Genius of Science pic.twitter.com/XzqGiIE5ug
— The Nobel Prize (@NobelPrize) October 4, 2016
The ceremony where the medals are awarded to the winners will be held in Stockholm in December.