Isaac Newton Medal and Prize
Awarded forWorld-leading contributions to physics by an individual of any nationality.
Sponsored byInstitute of Physics
CountryUnited Kingdom United Kingdom
Presented byInstitute of Physics Edit this on Wikidata
Reward(s)Gold medal, £1000
First awarded2008
WebsiteOfficial website
A replica of a second reflecting telescope Newton presented to the Royal Society in 1672 (the first one he made in 1668 was loaned to an instrument maker but there is no further record of what happened to it).[1]

The Isaac Newton Medal and Prize is a gold medal awarded annually by the Institute of Physics (IOP) accompanied by a prize of £1,000.[2] The award is given to a physicist, regardless of subject area, background or nationality, for outstanding contributions to physics. The award winner is invited to give a lecture at the Institute. It is named in honour of Sir Isaac Newton.

The first medal was awarded in 2008 to Anton Zeilinger, having been announced in 2007.[3] It gained national recognition in the UK in 2013 when it was awarded for technology that could lead to an 'invisibility cloak'.[4][5] By 2018 it was recognised internationally as the highest honour from the IOP.[6] In 2020, a citation study identified it as one of the five most prestigious prizes in physics.[7]

Recipients

Year Name Rationale (for)
2008 Anton Zeilinger "his pioneering conceptual and experimental contributions to the foundations of quantum physics, which have become the cornerstone for the rapidly-evolving field of quantum information"[3][8]
2009 Alan Guth "his invention of the inflationary universe model, his recognition that inflation would solve major problems confronting then-standard cosmology, and his calculation, with others, of the spectrum of density fluctuations that gave rise to structure in the universe"[9]
2010 Edward Witten "his many profound contributions that have transformed areas of particle theory, quantum field theory and general relativity"[10][11]
2011 Leo Kadanoff "inventing conceptual tools that reveal the deep implications of scale invariance on the behavior of phase transitions and dynamical systems"[12]
2012 Martin Rees his outstanding contributions to relativistic astrophysics and cosmology[13][14]
2013 John Pendry “seminal contributions to surface science, disordered systems and photonics”[15][4][16][5]
2014 Deborah S. Jin "pioneering the field of quantum-degenerate Fermi gases"[17][18][19]
2015 Eli Yablonovitch "visionary and foundational contributions to photonic nanostructures"[20][21][22]
2016 Tom Kibble "outstanding lifelong commitment to physics" (posthumously)[23]
2017 Charles L. Bennett "leadership of the Microwave Anisotropy Probe, a satellite experiment that revolutionized cosmology, transforming it from an order-of-magnitude game to a paragon of precision science"[24][25]
2018 Paul Corkum "his outstanding contributions to experimental physics"[6][26][27][28]
2019 Michael Pepper "the creation of the field of semiconductor nanoelectronics and discovery of new quantum phenomena"[29][30][31][32][33]
2020 Nader Engheta "groundbreaking innovation and transformative contributions to electromagnetic complex materials and nanoscale optics, and for pioneering development of the fields of near-zero-index metamaterials, and material-inspired analogue computation and optical nanocircuitry"
2021 David Deutsch "founding the discipline named quantum computation and establishing quantum computation's fundamental idea, now known as the ‘qubit’ or quantum bit"[34]
2022 Margaret Murnane "pioneering and sustained contributions to the development of ultrafast lasers and coherent X-ray sources and the use of such sources to understand the quantum nature of materials"[35]
2023 James Binney "advancing the science of stellar dynamics and using strong physical intuition to widen and deepen our understanding of how galaxies are structured and formed."[36]

See also

References

  1. ^ King, Henry C. (1955). The History of the Telescope. Courier Corporation. p. 74. ISBN 978-0-486-43265-6. Retrieved 2013-08-01.
  2. ^ "Isaac Newton Medal and Prize". Institute of Physics. Archived from the original on 2018-08-25. Retrieved 2015-04-24.
  3. ^ a b "Anton Zeilinger scoops first Isaac Newton medal". Physics World. 3 October 2007.
  4. ^ a b Palmer, Jason (June 30, 2013). "Cloaking pioneer nets physics prize". BBC News.
  5. ^ a b Silverman, Rosa (July 1, 2013). "'Invisibility cloak' scientist wins Isaac Newton Medal" – via www.telegraph.co.uk.
  6. ^ a b "Canadian physicist Paul Corkum is recipient of the highest medal awarded by the UK Institute of Physics". Canadian Association of Physicists. 12 July 2018.
  7. ^ Meho, Lokman I. (2020-05-04). "Highly prestigious international academic awards and their impact on university rankings". Quantitative Science Studies: 1–25. doi:10.1162/qss_a_00045. ISSN 2641-3337.
  8. ^ Quantum Aspects of Life. Imperial College Press. 2008. p. 378. ISBN 9781848162679.
  9. ^ "Alan Guth bags Isaac Newton medal". Physics World. 1 July 2009.
  10. ^ "Edward Witten wins Newton medal". Physics World. 29 June 2010.
  11. ^ "UK's Institute of Physics Announces 2010 Winners". www.supercomputingonline.com. SC ONLINE NEWS.
  12. ^ "2011 Isaac Newton Medal of the Institute of Physics". Institute of Physics.
  13. ^ Randall, Ian (19 July 2012). "Institute of Physics announces award winners". European Physical Society.
  14. ^ "Institute of Physics announces 2012 award winners". EurekAlert!. 2 July 2012.
  15. ^ Jackson, Caroline (1 July 2013). "IOP awards". Imperial College London.
  16. ^ Keir, Emily (July 10, 2013). "Invisibility Cloaks: No Longer Exclusive to the Wizarding World". Foreign Office Blogs. Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
  17. ^ "2014 Isaac Newton medal – Deborah Jin". NIST. September 6, 2017.
  18. ^ "Isaac Newton Medal goes to American physicist". Times Higher Education (THE). July 1, 2014.
  19. ^ "Deborah Jin Awarded Isaac Newton Medal". University of Colorado. July 8, 2014.
  20. ^ "Yablonovitch Wins the IOP Isaac Newton Medal". Center for Energy Efficient Electronics Science, University of California. 1 July 2015.
  21. ^ "Photonic crystals, graphene, and metamaterials bring Institute of Physics awards". LaserFocusWorld. 1 July 2015.
  22. ^ "IOP Awards Isaac Newton Medal to Professor Eli Yablonovitch for Photonic Nanostructures Research". AZoOptics. July 1, 2015.
  23. ^ "IOP awards Isaac Newton Medal posthumously to Sir Tom Kibble". Institute of Physics. 30 June 2016
  24. ^ "Chuck Bennett receives Isaac Newton Medal & Prize from the Institute of Physics". Physics & Astronomy. Johns Hopkins University. 30 June 2017.
  25. ^ "Physics and Astronomy Alumnus Charles Bennett Receives 2018 Breakthrough Prize". University of Maryland. 5 December 2017.
  26. ^ "Ultrafast laser pioneer Corkum wins IOP's Isaac Newton medal". optics.org.
  27. ^ "Careers and people". Physics World. 31 (8): 49. August 8, 2018. Bibcode:2018PhyW...31h..49.. doi:10.1088/2058-7058/31/8/41.
  28. ^ "Dr. Paul Corkum ('65) Awarded Isaac Newton Medal and Prize by UK Institute of Physics – Acadia University". Acadia University, Canada. 13 July 2018.
  29. ^ "2019 Institute of Physics Awards — Department of Physics". University of Cambridge. 10 July 2019.
  30. ^ "Physicist behind new quantum phenomena and T-ray detection of cancer receives highest Institute of Physics accolade — Mathematical, Physical and Life Sciences Division". University of Oxford. 5 July 2019.
  31. ^ "TeraView's founder, Sir Michael Pepper, receives highest Institute of Physics accolade". Cambridge Network.
  32. ^ "Professor Sir Michael Pepper receives the 2019 Issac Newton Medal and Prize from the IoP". London Centre for Nanotechnology.
  33. ^ "Sir Michael Pepper receives highest Institute of Physics accolade". TeraView. 18 July 2019.
  34. ^ "2021 Isaac Newton Medal and Prize". Institute of Physics.
  35. ^ 2022 Isaac Newton Medal and Prize. iop.org
  36. ^ 2023 Isaac Newton Medal and Prize. iop.org
  37. ^ "The University of Glasgow Story :: Awards :: Isaac Newton Medal". University of Glasgow.

External links

Institute of Physics
Sir Isaac Newton
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