Okubo to Receive the 2006 Wigner Medal for outstanding contributions to the understanding of physics through group theory
Susumu Okubo, Professor of Physics at the University of Rochester, will receive the 2006 Wigner Medal .
The Department of Physics and Astronomy is hosting a reception in Okubo's honor on Wed. May 31st, 2006 in BL271 (Commons Room).
The medal will be presented at the 26th International Colloquium On Group Theoretical Methods In Physics (ICGTMP26) 26-30 Jun 2006, New York City, New York http://web.gc.cuny.edu/physics/gp26/.
Last year Okubo was awarded the 2005 American Physical Society (APS) J. J. Sakurai Prize for his contributions to Theoretical Particle Physics.
Professor Okubo received notification of this award from Prof. Arno Bohm of the University of Texas at Austin, who is the chair of the Group Theory and Fundamental Physics Foundation. The members of the 2006 international selection committee are Kazuhiko Nishijima (Chair), Joseph Birman, Arno Bohm, Arthur Wightman and Bernardo Wolf.
The Wigner Medal was established in 1977/8 and was awarded for the first time at the Integrative Conference on Group Theory and Mathematical Physics (7th International Group Theory Colloquium 1978) to Eugene P. Wigner and Valentine Bargmann. The purpose of the Wigner Medal is to recognize outstanding contributions to the understanding of physics through group theory.
The Wigner Medal is administered by the Group Theory and Fundamental Physics Foundation, a publicly supported organization.
The Wigner Medal is awarded for "outstanding contributions to the understanding of physics through group theory." The awardee is chosen by an international selection committee whose members are elected by the Board of Trustees of the Foundation and by the Standing Committee of the International Group Theory Colloquium. The previous recipients of the Wigner Medal are:
1978 E. P. Wigner
1978 V. Bargmann
1980 I. M. Gel'fand
1982 L. Michel
1984 Y. Ne'eman
1986 F. Gürsey
1988 I. M. Singer
1990 F. Iachello
1992 J. Wess and Bruno Zumino
1996 V. Kac and R.V. Moody
1998 Marcos Moshinsky
2000 L. O'Raifeartaigh
2002 Harry Jeannot Lipkin
2006 Susumo Okubo
Prof. Okubo received his B.S. in Physics (1952) from the University of Tokyo, Japan and his Ph.D. in Physics (1958) from the University of Rochester. After one year of postdoctoral research at Rochester he went to the University of Napoli, Italy (1959-60) and CERN, Switzerland (1960-61). He returned to the University of Rochester in 1962 as a Senior Research Associate in the Department of Physics and was promoted to full Professor in 1964. He is the author of the book, Introduction to Octonian and Other Non-associative Algebras in Physics (Cambridge Univ. Press, 1995). He was awarded the Wigner Medal for his contributions to Group Theory in 2006, the American Physical Society Sakurai Prize in 2005, and a Nishina Prize in 1976 from the Nishina Foundation in Japan for his contributions to theoretical particle physics. He was a recipient of Guggenheim (1966) and Ford Foundation (1969) Fellowships. He is a Fellow of the American Physical Society.
Prof. Okubo's primary research interest is in the area of Theoretical "High Energy Physics" and mathematical physics. In particular, his recent works have focused on applications of Lie algebras and other non-associative algebras in both physics and mathematics.
Article submitted by:
Arie Bodek
5/24/06; 11:16:56 AM