2004 Nobel Prize in Physics

The 2004 Nobel Prize in Physics has been awarded to David J. Gross, H. David Politzer and Frank Wilczek. The prize was announced by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm on 5 October 2004.

The citation

The citation reads: "for the discovery of asymptotic freedom in the theory of the strong interaction". They share the prize equally.

The laureates

David J. Gross was born in 1941 in Washington, D.C., the United States, and is affiliated with the University of California, Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics, Santa Barbara. H. David Politzer was born in 1949 in New York, the United States, and is affiliated with the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), Pasadena. Frank Wilczek was born in 1951 in New York, the United States, and is affiliated with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge.

Why it matters

The three physicists explained why the particles inside protons and neutrons, called quarks, behave almost as free particles when very close together but cannot be pulled apart. The discovery is a cornerstone of the theory of the strong force.

The prize

The prize is worth 10 million Swedish kronor, divided between the laureates. It will be presented at a ceremony in Stockholm on 10 December, the anniversary of the death of Alfred Nobel, the Swedish inventor of dynamite whose will founded the prizes in 1895.