Physicist Shares European Prize

The prestigious High Energy and Particle Physics Prize of the European Physical Society for 2003 was awarded this summer to David Gross, professor of physics and director of the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics at UCSB, and to two others.

He shares the prize with Frank Wilczek of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology–a student of Gross's at Princeton University and, in the 1980s, a member of the UCSB faculty–and David Politzer of the California Institute of Technology. They are the first Americans to ever receive the award.

The award recognizes the fundamental contributions the three scientists have made to quantum chromodynamics, the theory of strong interactions.

"The High Energy and Particle Physics Prize is a major international award, and my UCSB colleagues and I are extremely pleased and proud that Professor Gross has been recognized with this very important honor," said Chancellor Henry T. Yang. "That no American has previously won this award only adds to the pride we take in this accomplishment."

The prize is awarded every two years. It includes a medal, a diploma, and a cash award. Gross traveled to Aachen, Germany, last July to accept it during the International Europhysics Conference on High Energy Physics.

The European Physical Society (EPS) is a scientific society whose purpose is to promote physics and physicists in Europe. Created in 1968, the EPS provides an international forum to discuss science and policy issues. It represents over 80,000 members and physicists through its 38 national member societies.