Chen Ning Yang
Nobel Prize in Physics
"For their penetrating investigation of the so-called parity laws which has led to important discoveries regarding the elementary particles."
At the time of receiving the award, C.N. Yang was affiliated with the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton. A few years later, in 1965, he joined the faculty at Stony Brook as the Albert Einstein Professor of Physics and became the first director of the eponymous C.N. Yang Institute for Theoretical Physics.
Ashoke Sen
Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics
"For uncovering striking evidence of strong-weak duality in certain supersymmetric string theories and gauge theories, opening the path to the realization that all string theories are different limits of the same underlying theory."
Dr. Sen received his Ph.D. in Physics from Stony Brook University in 1982. He was affiliated with the Harish-Chandra Research Institute when he received the prize, and is currently affiliated with the International Centre for Theoretical Sciences in Bangalore.
Super-K, T2K, and K2K Collaborations
Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics
"For the fundamental discovery and exploration of neutrino oscillations, revealing a new frontier beyond, and possibly far beyond, the Standard Model of particle physics."
Led by Dr. Chang Kee Jung, members of the Neutrino and Nucleon Decay research group in the Physics and Astronomy Department were among the honored recipients of the shared prize for 2016.
Barry C. Barish
Nobel Prize in Physics
"For decisive contributions to the LIGO detector and the observation of gravitational waves."
Dr. van Nieuwenhuizen received his Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1962. At the time of receiving the prize, he was affiliated with Caltech. In 2023, he was appointed as the President’s Distinguished Endowed Chair in Physics at Stony Brook.
Daniel Z. Freedman
Special Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics
"For the invention of supergravity, in which quantum variables are part of the description of the geometry of spacetime."
While affiliated with MIT at the time of receiving the prize, prior to his position there he was a professor at Stony Brook University in the Yang Institute for Theoretical Physics.
Peter van Nieuwenhuizen
Special Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics
"For the invention of supergravity, in which quantum variables are part of the description of the geometry of spacetime."
Dr. van Nieuwenhuizen received his Ph.D. from Utrecht University in 1971. In 1975, he was hired as an Assistant Professor at Stony Brook University. In the years that have followed, he was earned many awards and distinctions during his career here. He is currently a Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Physics.
Alexander Zamolodchikov
Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics
"For profound contributions to statistical physics and quantum field theory, with diverse and far-reaching applications in different branches of physics and mathematics."
Dr. Zamodlodchikov received his Ph.D. from Moscow's Institute for Theroretical and Experimental Physics in 1978. He is currently the C.N. Yang/Wei Deng Endowed Chair in the Physics and Astronomy Department here at Stony Brook Unversity.