David J. Gross
Director of the Kavli Institute
for Theoretical Physics
2004 Nobel Prize in Physics
"For the discovery of asymptotic freedom in the
theory of the strong interaction"
October 5, 2004
(Santa Barbara, Calif.) – The 2004 Nobel Prize in physics
has been awarded to David Gross, professor of physics and
director of the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics at
the University of California, Santa Barbara, and two others.
The prize is for the "discovery of asymptotic freedom
in the theory of the strong interaction" and is shared
with H. David Politzer of the California Institute of Technology
and Frank Wilczek of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Wilczek also served on the faculty at UCSB from 1981 to 1989.
Wilczek was a student of Gross's at Princeton University
when they made the discovery. Politzer was working independently
on a similar calculation while at Harvard University.
According to the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, their
"discovery was expressed in 1973 in an elegant mathematical
framework that led to a completely new theory, Quantum ChromoDynamics."
With this discovery, "Gross, Politzer and Wilczek have
brought physics one step closer to fulfilling a grand dream,
to formulate a unified theory comprising gravity as well––a
unified theory for everything."
Faculty members at UCSB have won five Nobel Prizes since
1998.
"Our campus is tremendously honored and proud of this
prize to a truly outstanding scientist and colleague, David
Gross," said Henry T. Yang, chancellor of UCSB. "We
are extremely pleased by this news and offer David and the
researchers with whom he shares this prize our warmest congratulations."
In a statement, UC President Robert C. Dynes said: "Professor
Gross, an alumnus of the University of California, has been
a superb researcher and teacher throughout his career, and
the awarding of the Nobel in physics today underscores his
significant contributions to the field and his achievements
in the creation of new knowledge. This award underscores,
once again, the major contribution that research universities
make to our understanding of the world. My heartfelt congratulations
to my colleague and a fellow physicist."
Said UCSB's Dean of Science, Martin Moskovits, "Nothing
could be more fundamental than the structure of the nucleus––the
tiny kernel at the center of every atom. David Gross is one
of the founders of our current understanding of the nucleus,
the so-called standard model. His work has impacted the entire
field of particle physics for decades and continues to break
new ground in our quest for the one central and unified theory
that underlies all of physics, all of chemistry––
everything. He is one of the great physicists of the age."
The National Science Foundation has supported the institute
at UCSB since its creation in 1979. Professor Gross has been
the principal investigator on major NSF awards since 1994
totalling $31.8 million.
Biographical snapshot
David Gross joined the Institute for Theoretical Physics
at the University of California, Santa Barbara in January
1997. He received his Ph.D. from the University of California,
Berkeley in 1966 and then was a Junior Fellow at Harvard.
In 1969 he went to Princeton where he was appointed Professor
of Physics in 1972, and later Eugene Higgins Professor of
Physics, and Thomas Jones Professor of Mathematical Physics.
Dr. Gross was an Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Fellow (1970-74),
was elected Fellow of the American Physical Society in 1974,
Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1985,
Member of the National Academy of Sciences in 1986 and Fellow
of the American Association for the Advancement of Science
in 1987.
He is the recipient of the J. J. Sakurai Prize of the American
Physical Society in 1986, a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship
Prize in 1987, the Dirac Medal in 1988, the Oscar Klein Medal
in 2000 and the Harvey Prize of the Technion in 2000. He
has received two honorary degrees.
The Frederick W. Gluck Chair in Theoretical Physics, an
endowed chair for the director of the Kavli Institute for
Theoretical Physics, was established in 2002 with a generous
gift from UCSB Trustee Fred Gluck.
News Release and Press Conference
KITP
Director Awarded 2004 Nobel Prize in Physics
Video
of October 5 Press Conference
Information from the Nobel Foundation
Announcement of the prize:
http://nobelprize.org/physics/laureates/2004/
Press release:
http://nobelprize.org/physics/laureates/2004/press.html
Background information on the science:
http://nobelprize.org/physics/laureates/2004/public.html
Background stories
KITP Director Receives France's Highest Scientific Honor
July 2004
http://www.kitp.ucsb.edu/kitpnews/item/?id=14
UCSB Physicist Wins Prestigious European Award
July 24, 2003
http://www.ia.ucsb.edu/pa/display.aspx?pkey=1010
David Gross web sites
http://www.kitp.ucsb.edu/community/ITPBios/David.html
UCSB's Other Nobel Laureates
About the Nobel Foundation
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