Indian string theorist wins 2010 ICTP Prize
The Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) has awarded its 2010 ICTP Prize to Shiraz Minwalla, a string theorist at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) in Mumbai. The ICTP Prize, created in 1982, recognizes young scientists (under 40) from developing countries who work and live in those countries and who have made outstanding and original contributions in physics or mathematics.
As a researcher and faculty member at Harvard University, the Indian Institute of Technology and, most recently, TIFR, Minwalla has won many fellowships and awards. His papers have generated numerous citations and the ICTP Prize recognizes his influential work in string theory.
Each year, the ICTP Prize is awarded in honour of a scientist who has made outstanding contributions to the field in which the prize is given. This year it honours Nicola Cabibbo, the eminent theoretical high-energy physicist, who has also been a key player in ICTP since its early days and is currently chair of the ICTP Scientific Council.
2010 Markov Prize goes to Veniamin Berezinsky
The Institute for Nuclear Research (INR) of the Russian Academy of Sciences in Moscow has awarded the 2010 M A Markov Prize to Veniamin Berezinsky of INFN, Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso and INR. He is recognized for his "outstanding contribution to the physics of cosmic rays and development of the theory of cosmogenic neutrinos at ultra-high energies". He received the award at the 8th Markov Readings in Moscow on 13 May.
Berezinsky's best known papers include the first proposal of cosmogenic neutrinos and calculations of their fluxes, written with George Zatsepin in 1968, and the proposal of the pair-production dip-model for ultra-high-energy cosmic rays, with S I Grigorieva in 1988, and with A Z Gazizov and S I Grigorieva in 2006.
The M A Markov Prize was established by INR in memory of Moisey Alexandrovich Markov (1908–1994), who was one of the founders of the institute. Markov was a leading Russian scientist, theoretical physicist and promoter of science who made pioneering contributions to research in neutrino physics, as well as in studies of fundamental problems in elementary particle physics, quantum gravity and at the boundary between particle physics and cosmology. The Markov Readings are held each year on 13 May to commemorate his birthday.
Lyn Evans elected to the Royal Society
Lyn Evans has become a fellow of the Royal Society, the world's oldest scientific academy in continuous existence, which was founded in 1660. The announcement of newly elected fellows, on 20 May, cites Evans' role as LHC project leader and as an outstanding expert in accelerator physics. "His elucidation of performance limitations allowed the CERN SPS to exceed its design performance by more than an order of magnitude, and was essential for the success of the antiproton collider that discovered the W and Z bosons … Under his leadership, the critical components of the LHC, including the most challenging superconducting magnet system ever built, were produced, installed and commissioned."
Elected by peer review for life, the fellows provide the backbone of the Royal Society. There are currently more than 60 Nobel Laureates among the approximately 1400 fellows and foreign members. The membership has included Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin, Ernest Rutherford, Albert Einstein and, currently, Stephen Hawking.