3 Brits Win Physics Nobel

The 2016 Nobel Prize in Physics has been awarded to three British-born scientists for their discoveries about strange forms of matter.

13:23 05 October 2016

Three British-born scientists, David Thouless, Duncan Haldane and Michael Kosterlitz, have been awarded the 2016 Nobel Prize in Physics for their discoveries about strange forms of matter. The Nobel Committee said that their work had “opened the door on an unknown world.” Their discoveries could also result in improved materials for electronics and is already informing one approach to super-fast computing.

 

The trio, who were named at a press conference in Sweden, will share the £727,000 prize and will join a prestigious list of 200 other Physics laureates recognised since 1901.

 

Acting chairman of the Nobel committee, Prof Nils Mårtensson, commented: "Today's advanced technology - take for instance our computers - relies on our ability to understand and control the properties of the materials involved.

 

"And this year's Nobel laureates in their theoretical work discovered a set of totally unexpected regularities in the behaviour of matter, which can be described in terms of an established mathematical concept - namely, that of topology.

 

"This has paved the way for designing new materials with novel properties and there is great hope that this will be important for many future technologies."