Prix Wolf de Physique : lauréats par année

Années d'attribution

• 2025

  • Jainendra K. Jain, James P. Eisenstein, Mordehai Heiblum

    For advancing our understanding of the surprising properties of two-dimensional electron systems in strong magnetic fields.

• 2024

  • Martin Rees

    for fundamental contributions to high-energy astrophysics, galaxies and structure formation, and cosmology.

• 2022

  • Anne L’Huillier

    for pioneering contributions to ultrafast laser science and attosecond physics.

  • Ferenc Krausz, Paul Corkum

    for pioneering contributions to ultrafast laser science and attosecond physics

• 2021

  • Giorgio Parisi

    for ground-breaking discoveries in disordered systems, particle physics and statistical physics.

• 2020

  • Allan H. MacDonald, Pablo Jarillo-Herrero, Rafi Bistritzer

    For pioneering theoretical and experimental work on twisted bilayer graphene.

• 2018

  • Charles H. Bennett, Gilles Brassard

    for founding and advancing the fields of Quantum Cryptography and Quantum Teleportation.

• 2017

  • Didier Queloz

    For the first discovery of an exoplanet orbiting a solar-type star.

  • Michel Mayor

    for the first discovery of an exoplanet orbiting a solar-type star.

• 2016

  • Yoseph Imry

    For pioneering studies of the physics of mesoscopic and random systems.

• 2015

  • James D. Bjorken

    for predicting scaling in deep inelastic scattering, leading to identification of nucleon's pointlike constituents.

  • Robert P. Kirshner

    for forging the path to supernova cosmology through his observations and insights.

• 2013

  • Juan Ignacio Cirac, Peter Zoller

    for groundbreaking theoretical contributions to quantum information processing, quantum optics and the physics of quantum gases.

• 2012

  • Jacob Bekenstein

    for his work on astronomical super-massive objects called 'black holes' that showed they can possess a statistical-thermodynamic property called entropy even though the internal dynamics could not be known. This work created an entire field of black hole dynamics which has become a cornerstone in the important theoretical physics areas of quantum gravity and strings.

• 2011

  • Harald Rose, Knut Urban, Maximilian Haider

    for their development of aberration-corrected electron microscopy, allowing the observation of individual atoms with picometer precision, thus revolutionizing materials science.

• 2010

  • Alain Aspect, Anton Zeilinger, John F. Clauser

    for their fundamental conceptual and experimental contributions to the foundations of quantum physics, specifically an increasingly sophisticated series of tests of Bell's inequalities or extensions there of using entangled quantum states.

• 2006/2007

  • Albert Fert, Peter Grünberg

    for their independent discovery of the giant magnetoresistance phenomenon (GMR), thereby launching a new field of research and applications known as spintronics, which utilizes the spin of the electron to store and transport information.

• 2005

  • Daniel Kleppner

    for groundbreaking work in atomic physics of hydrogenic systems, including research on the hydrogen maser, Rydberg atoms and Bose-Einstein condensation.

• 2004

  • François Englert, Peter W. Higgs, Robert Brout

    for pioneering work that has led to the insight of mass generation, whenever a local gauge symmetry is realized asymmetrically in the world of sub-atomic particles.

• 2002/2003

  • Anthony J. Leggett, Bertrand Halperin

    for key insights into the broad range of condensed matter physics: Leggett on superfluidity of the light helium isotope and macroscopic quantum phenomena; and Halperin on two- dimensional melting, disordered systems and strongly interacting electrons.

• 2000

  • Masatoshi Koshiba, Raymond Davis Jr.

    for their pioneering observations of astronomical phenomena by detection of neutrinos, thus creating the emerging field of neutrino astronomy.

• 1999

  • Dan Shechtman

    for the experimental discovery of quasi-crystals, non periodic solids having long-range order, which inspired the exploration of a new fundamental state of matter.

• 1998

  • Michael V. Berry, Yakir Aharonov

    for the discovery of quantum topological and geometrical phases, specifically the Aharonov-Bohm effect, the Berry phase, and their incorporation into many fields of physics.

• 1996/1997

  • John A. Wheeler

    for his seminal contributions to black holes physics, to quantum gravity, and to the theories of nuclear scattering and nuclear fission.

• 1994/1995

  • Vitaly L. Ginzburg

    for his contributions to the theory of superconductivity and to the theory of high-energy processes in astrophysics.

  • Yoichiro Nambu

    for his contribution to elementary particle theory, including recognition of the role played by spontaneous symmetry-breaking in analogy with superconductivity theory, and the discovery of the color symmetry of the strong interactions.

• 1993

  • Benoit Mandelbrot

    by recognizing the widespread occurrence of fractals and developing mathematical tools for describing them, he has changed our view of nature.

• 1992

  • Joseph H. Taylor Jr.

    for his discovery of an orbiting radio pulsar and its exploitation to verify the general theory of relativity to high precision.

• 1991

  • Maurice Goldhaber, Valentine L. Telegdi

    for their separate seminal contributions to nuclear and particle physics, particularly those concerning the weak interactions involving leptons.

• 1990

  • David J. Thouless, Pierre-Gilles de Gennes

    for a wide variety of pioneering contributions to our understanding of the organization of complex condensed matter systems, de Gennes especially for his work on macromolecular matter and liquid crystals and Thouless for his on disordered and low-dimensional systems.

• 1988

  • Roger Penrose, Stephen Hawking

    for their brilliant development of the theory of general relativity, in which they have shown the necessity for cosmological singularities and have elucidated the physics of black holes. In this work they have greatly enlarged our understanding of the origin and possible fate of the Universe.

• 1987

  • Bruno B. Rossi, Riccardo Giacconi

    for the discovery of extra-solar X-ray sources and the elucidation of their physical processes.

  • Herbert Friedman

    for pioneering investigations in solar X-rays.

• 1986

  • Albert J. Libchaber

    for his brilliant experimental demonstration of the transition to turbulence and chaos in dynamical systems.

  • Mitchell J. Feigenbaum

    for his pioneering theoretical studies demonstrating the universal character of non-linear systems, which has made possible the systematic study of chaos.

• 1985

  • Conyers Herring, Philippe Nozières

    for their major contributions to the fundamental theory of solids, especially of the behavior of electrons in metals.

• 1984

  • Erwin L. Hahn

    for his discovery of nuclear spin echoes and for the phenomenon of self-induced transparency.

  • Peter B. Hirsch

    for his development of the utilization of the transmission electron microscope as a universal instrument to study the structure of crystalline matter.

  • Theodore H. Maiman

    for his realization of the first operating laser, the pulsed three level ruby laser.

• 1982

  • Leon M. Lederman, Martin L. Perl

    for their experimental discovery of unexpected new particles establishing a third generation quarks and leptons.

• 1981

  • Freeman Dyson, Gerardus 't Hooft, Victor Weisskopf

    for their outstanding contributions to theoretical physics, especially in the development and application of the quantum theory of, fields.

• 1980

  • Kenneth G. Wilson, Leo P. Kadanoff, Michael E. Fisher

    for path breaking developments culminating in the general theory of the critical behavior at transitions between the different thermodynamic phases of matter.

• 1979

  • George Uhlenbeck

    for his discovery, jointly with the late Samuel A.Goudsmit, of the electron spin.

  • Giuseppe Occhialini

    for his contributions to the discovery of electron pair production and of the charged pion.

• 1978

  • Chien-Shiung Wu

    for her persistent and successful exploration of the weak interaction which helped establish the precise form and the non conservation of parity for this new natural force.