Three particle physicists who provided insights into how tiny violations in symmetry shape the universe share this year's Nobel prize in Physics – but the decision has already sparked controversy.
Two Japanese researchers, Makoto Kobayashi and Toshihide Maskawa, share half the prize for explaining, in 1972, how the laws of physics apply to matter and antimatter in subtly different ways. Their discovery of the origin of broken symmetry predicts the existence of at least three families of quarks.
Some physicists have protested about the award.
According to the Italian newspaper La Repubblica, Roberto Petronzio, president of the Italian Institute for Nuclear Physics (INFN) is bitter at the omission of Nicola Cabibbo from the honour. Cabibbo's research laid the ground work for Kobayashi and Maskawa.
Two Japanese researchers, Makoto Kobayashi and Toshihide Maskawa, share half the prize for explaining, in 1972, how the laws of physics apply to matter and antimatter in subtly different ways. Their discovery of the origin of broken symmetry predicts the existence of at least three families of quarks.
Some physicists have protested about the award.
According to the Italian newspaper La Repubblica, Roberto Petronzio, president of the Italian Institute for Nuclear Physics (INFN) is bitter at the omission of Nicola Cabibbo from the honour. Cabibbo's research laid the ground work for Kobayashi and Maskawa.
Full article on NewScientist
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