36 Fundamental Physics Breakthrough Prize Laureates
1. List of Fundamental Physics Breakthrough Prize Laureates
| Year | Ceremony location | Laureates | Affiliation (when awarded) | Affiliation (current/last) | Reasons |
| 2012 | Geneva, Switzerland | Nima Arkani-Hamed | Institute for Advanced Study, US | Institute for Advanced Study, US | “For original approaches to outstanding problems in particle physics.” |
| 2012 | Geneva, Switzerland | Alan Guth | Massachusetts Institute of Technology, US | Massachusetts Institute of Technology, US | “For the invention of inflationary cosmology, and for contributions to the theory for the generation of cosmological density fluctuations arising from quantum fluctuations.” |
| 2012 | Geneva, Switzerland | Alexei Kitaev | California Institute of Technology, US | California Institute of Technology, US | “For robust quantum memories and fault-tolerant quantum computation using topological quantum phases with anyons and unpaired Majorana modes.” |
| 2012 | Geneva, Switzerland | Maxim Kontsevich | Institut des Hautes Études Scientifiques, France | Institut des Hautes Études Scientifiques, France | “For numerous contributions including development of homological mirror symmetry, and the study of wall-crossing phenomena.” |
| 2012 | Geneva, Switzerland | Andrei Linde | Stanford University, US | Stanford University, US | “For the development of inflationary cosmology, including the theory of new inflation, eternal chaotic inflation and the theory of inflationary multiverse.” |
| 2012 | Geneva, Switzerland | Juan Maldacena | Institute for Advanced Study, US | Institute for Advanced Study, US | “For contributions to gauge/gravity duality, relating gravitational physics in a spacetime and quantum field theory on the boundary of the spacetime.” |
| 2012 | Geneva, Switzerland | Nathan Seiberg | Institute for Advanced Study, US | Institute for Advanced Study, US | “For contributions to our understanding of quantum field theory and string theory.” |
| 2012 | Geneva, Switzerland | Ashoke Sen | Harish-Chandra Research Institute, India | Harish-Chandra Research Institute, India | “For opening the path to the realization that all string theories are different limits of the same underlying theory.” |
| 2012 | Geneva, Switzerland | Edward Witten | Institute for Advanced Study, US | Institute for Advanced Study, US | “For contributions to the applications of topology to physics, non-perturbative duality symmetries, and metadata relating to string theory.” |
| 2013 | Geneva, Switzerland | Alexander Polyakov | Princeton University, US | Princeton University, US | “For his many discoveries in quantum field theory and string theory.” |
| 2014 | Mountain View, US | Michael B. Green | University of Cambridge, UK | University of Cambridge, UK | “For opening new perspectives on quantum gravity and the unification of forces.” |
| 2014 | Mountain View, US | John H. Schwarz | California Institute of Technology, US | California Institute of Technology, US | “For opening new perspectives on quantum gravity and the unification of forces.” |
| 2015 | Mountain View, US | Saul Perlmutter (and the Supernova Cosmology Project) | University of California, Berkeley, US | University of California, Berkeley, US | “For the most unexpected discovery that the expansion of the Universe is accelerating, rather than slowing as had been long assumed.” |
| 2015 | Mountain View, US | Brian P. Schmidt (and the High-Z Supernova Search Team) | Australian National University, Australia | Australian National University, Australia | “For the most unexpected discovery that the expansion of the Universe is accelerating, rather than slowing as had been long assumed.” |
| 2015 | Mountain View, US | Adam Riess (and the High-Z Supernova Search Team) | Johns Hopkins University, US | Johns Hopkins University, US | “For the most unexpected discovery that the expansion of the Universe is accelerating, rather than slowing as had been long assumed.” |
| 2016 | Mountain View, US | Takaaki Kajita (梶田隆章) Atsuto Suzuki (鈴木厚人) (and 5 Neutrino Experiments) | University of Tokyo, Japan Tohoku University, Japan | University of Tokyo, Japan Iwate Prefectural University, Japan | “For the fundamental discovery and exploration of neutrino oscillations, revealing a new frontier of physics well beyond the Standard Model of particle physics.” |
| 2017 | Mountain View, US | Joseph Polchinski | University of California, Santa Barbara, US | University of California, Santa Barbara, US (Deceased) | “For transformative advances in quantum field theory, string theory, and quantum gravity.” |
| 2017 | Mountain View, US | Andrew Strominger | Harvard University, US | Harvard University, US | “For transformative advances in quantum field theory, string theory, and quantum gravity.” |
| 2017 | Mountain View, US | Cumrun Vafa | Harvard University, US | Harvard University, US | “For transformative advances in quantum field theory, string theory, and quantum gravity.” |
| 2018 | Mountain View, US | Charles L. Bennett Gary Hinshaw Norman Jarosik Lyman Page Jr. David N. Spergel (and the WMAP Team) | NASA Goddard Space Flight Center / Princeton University / etc. | Various Institutions | “For detailed maps of the early universe that greatly improved our knowledge of the evolution of the cosmos and the fluctuations that initiated the formation of galaxies.” |
| 2019 | Mountain View, US | Charles Kane | University of Pennsylvania, US | University of Pennsylvania, US | “For new ideas about topology and symmetry in physics, leading to the prediction of a new class of materials that conduct electricity only on their surface.” |
| 2019 | Mountain View, US | Eugene Mele | University of Pennsylvania, US | University of Pennsylvania, US | “For new ideas about topology and symmetry in physics, leading to the prediction of a new class of materials that conduct electricity only on their surface.” |
| 2020 | Mountain View, US | Sheperd Doeleman (and the Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration) | Harvard–Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, US | Harvard–Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, US | “For the first image of a supermassive black hole, taken by means of an Earth-sized alliance of telescopes.” |
| 2021 | Los Angeles, US (Virtual) | Eric Adelberger | University of Washington, US | University of Washington, US | “For precision fundamental measurements that test our understanding of gravity, probe the nature of dark matter, and establish limits on extensions to the Standard Model.” |
| 2021 | Los Angeles, US (Virtual) | Jens H. Gundlach | University of Washington, US | University of Washington, US | “For precision fundamental measurements that test our understanding of gravity, probe the nature of dark matter, and establish limits on extensions to the Standard Model.” |
| 2021 | Los Angeles, US (Virtual) | Blayne Heckel | University of Washington, US | University of Washington, US | “For precision fundamental measurements that test our understanding of gravity, probe the nature of dark matter, and establish limits on extensions to the Standard Model.” |
| 2022 | Los Angeles, US (Virtual) | Hidetoshi Katori (香取秀俊) | University of Tokyo & RIKEN, Japan | University of Tokyo & RIKEN, Japan | “For outstanding contributions to the invention and development of the optical lattice clock, which enables precision tests of the fundamental laws of nature.” |
| 2022 | Los Angeles, US (Virtual) | Jun Ye (葉軍) | JILA, National Institute of Standards and Technology & University of Colorado, US | University of Colorado, US | “For outstanding contributions to the invention and development of the optical lattice clock, which enables precision tests of the fundamental laws of nature.” |
| 2023 | Los Angeles, US | Charles H. Bennett | IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center, US | IBM Research, US | “For foundational work in the field of quantum information.” |
| 2023 | Los Angeles, US | Gilles Brassard | Université de Montréal, Canada | Université de Montréal, Canada | “For foundational work in the field of quantum information.” |
| 2023 | Los Angeles, US | David Deutsch | University of Oxford, UK | University of Oxford, UK | “For foundational work in the field of quantum information.” |
| 2023 | Los Angeles, US | Peter Shor | Massachusetts Institute of Technology, US | Massachusetts Institute of Technology, US | “For foundational work in the field of quantum information.” |
| 2024 | Los Angeles, US | John Cardy | University of Oxford, UK | University of Oxford, UK | “For profound contributions to statistical physics and quantum field theory, with diverse and far-reaching applications in condensed matter and string theory.” |
| 2024 | Los Angeles, US | Alexander Zamolodchikov | Rutgers University, US | Stony Brook University, US | “For profound contributions to statistical physics and quantum field theory, with diverse and far-reaching applications in condensed matter and string theory.” |
| 2025 | Los Angeles, US | David Conlon | California Institute of Technology, US | California Institute of Technology, US | “For contributions to Ramsey theory and combinatorics, with applications to computer science and information theory.” |
| 2026 | Los Angeles, US | Frank Merle | CY Cergy Paris Université & IHÉS, France | CY Cergy Paris Université & IHÉS, France | “For breakthroughs in nonlinear evolution equations, with regards to their stability, singularity formation, or resolution into solitons.” |