David Gross, H. David Politzer & Frank Wilczek

Today, Americans David J. Gross, H. David Politzer and Frank Wilczek won the 2004 Nobel Physics Prize. Their $1.3 million check, a gold medal and a diploma, will be given in honor of their explanation of the force that binds particles inside the atomic nucleus.

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said:

The discovery which is awarded this year's Nobel Prize is of decisive importance for our understanding of how the theory of one of Nature's fundamental forces works, the force that ties together the smallest pieces of matter – the quarks.

The trio's research shows how tiny quark particles interact, helping to explain everything from how a coin spins to how the universe was built.

Specifically, they showed how the attraction between quarks -- considered nature's basic building blocks -- is strong when they are far apart and weak when they are close together, like the tension in an elastic band when it is pulled.

Hopefully, Jay Leno will have a field day tonight with this one.

Although the MIT, UC Santa Barbara and Cal Tech researchers are physically far apart their collaboration and discovery made three decades ago proved strong, mimicking the quarks they were studying.

In all seriousness, Gross, Politzer & Wilczek's work has helped science get closer to "a theory for everything," the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said in awarding the physics prize.

The money, medal and diploma will be presented to these three gentlemen on December 10th, the anniversary of Nobel's death in 1896.

The 2004 Nobel Committee included: Sune Svanberg, Gunnar Oquist and Lars Brink. They announced the winners of the 2004 Nobel physics prize at a press conference in Stockholm earlier today.

Alfred Nobel, the wealthy Swedish industrialist and inventor of dynamite who endowed the prizes, left only vague guidelines for the selection committee.

In his will, he said the prize should be given to those who "shall have conferred the greatest benefit on mankind" and "shall have made the most important discovery or invention within the field of physics."

The Nobel Prize is an international award given yearly since 1901 for achievements in physics, chemistry, medicine, literature and for peace.

In 1968, the Bank of Sweden instituted the Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel, founder of the Nobel Prize.

Matt Moore of the Associated Press wrote this morning:

In 1973, Wilczek, 53, and Politzer, 55, were still graduate students at the time of the discovery; Gross, now 63, was a young professor. Their achievement cemented the theory of quantum chromodynamics, which describes the interactions of quarks and other subatomic particles inside the atomic nucleus.

It also filled a critical remaining gap in what physicists refer to as the Standard Model, the theory that governs physics at the microscopic scale. It accounts for the behavior of three out of nature's four fundamental forces — electromagnetism, the strong force and the weak force, which governs radioactive decay.

The ultimate goal of physics would be to unify the Standard Model with Einstein's theory of general relativity, which describes how gravity works and predicts the existence of black holes, wormholes and other far-out phenomena. The work of Wilczek, Gross and Politzer brought science one step closer to that "grand dream," the Swedish academy noted.

A Dream Come True for Frank Wilczek

AP Photo Credit: Chtiose Suzuki

Co-recipient, Frank Wilczek, 53, from Cambridge, Massachusetts told a Swedish radio this morning that he was surprised and gratified.

"Of course it is something I've been dreaming about for quite a while now," he said from his office at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Wilczek was only twenty-one when he and Gross made their revolutionary discovery.

Today, former Nobel Prize physics winners Samuel Ting (1976), Jerome Friedman (1990) and Wolfgang Ketterle (2001) were at M.I.T. to congratulate Wilczek in his classroom.

Wilczek was born in 1951 in Queens, NY. He received a doctor’s degree in physics in 1974 from Princeton University.

Wilczek is a professor at the Department of Physics at MIT, Cambridge MA.

David Gross, One of Three 2004 Nobel Physics Prize Winners

David J. Gross, 63, is the director of the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

He was born in 1941 in Washington, DC. In 1966, he received a doctor’s degree in physics from the University of California, Berkeley.

H. David Politzer, 55, is a professor of theoretical physics at the California Institute of Technology (Cal Tech) in Pasadena, California.

In 1987, he received his doctor’s degree in physics from Harvard University.

Politzer's work three decades ago was independent for Wilczek and Gross' but parallel.

Politzer told the Swedish news agency TT he was having a hard time regaining his composure after the news, and said his parents' reaction was most "touching".

"This means a lot to them. They grew up during the depression in difficult conditions so this has been a long journey for my family," he said.

Past Recipients

Last year physicists Vitaly Lazarevich Ginzburg of Russia and Americans Alexei Alexeevich Abrikosov and Anthony James Leggett were honored for their work and pioneering contributions on the theory of superconductivity and superfluidity, the motion of a fluid without internal friction.

In 1901, Wilhelm Conrad Rontgen was recognized for his discovery of the remarkable rays subsequently name after him.

In 1902, the award was made as a result of research on the influence of magneticsm upon radiation phenomenon.

In 1903, Antoine Henri Becquerel along with Pierre and Marie Curie were honored for Becquerel's discovery of spontaneous radioactivity and the Curie's services associated with Professor Becquerel.

From 1904 - 1921, recipients were recognized for their discoveries of or work in the field of argon, cathode rays, the conduction of electricity by gases, wireless telegraphy, the radiation of heat, liquid helium, and anomalies in nickel steel alloys, to name a few.

In 1921, Albert Einstein received the prise for his services to Theoretical Physics, and for his discovery of the law of the photoelectric effect. The photoelectric effect is used for solar power by mounting arrays of solar cells which generate direct current from sunlight.

For more information go directly to the Nobel foundation's website at: Nobelprize.se

Congratulations David J. Gross, H. David Politzer & Frank Wilczek, and thank you for your significant contributions!

Here's to healthy, adventuresome, soulful and strong force living!

~ Jennifer King

P.S. If you are interested in writing a note of congratulations to Dr. Gross, Dr. Politzer or Dr. Wilczek, their address is as follows:

David J. Gross
Institute for Theoretical Physics, Kohn Hall
1219 University of California
Santa Barbara, CA 93106
USA

H. David Politzer
California Institute of Technology,
High Energy Physics
452-48
Pasadena, CA 91106-3368
USA

Frank A. Wilczek
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Center for Theoretical Physics
77 Massachusetts Ave.
6-305 Cambridge, MA 02139
USA