Fundamental Physics Prize - $27 million awarded

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around the announcement of the Fundamental Physics Prize, which awards significant monetary recognition for transformative advances in physics. Participants express various reactions to the prize, its recipients, and implications for the field of physics, including concerns about funding and productivity.

Discussion Character

  • Debate/contested
  • Meta-discussion

Main Points Raised

  • Some participants highlight the significance of the prize, noting its potential to recognize transformative work in physics.
  • Others express disappointment over the selection of recipients, suggesting a bias towards certain areas of physics, such as theoretical physics, while neglecting applied physics.
  • A participant raises concerns about the effectiveness of large grants, citing examples of well-funded physicists whose productivity did not improve with increased funding.
  • There are suggestions that the prize could be better utilized by establishing specific projects or working groups to focus on intensive research efforts.
  • One participant humorously mentions their own research ideas in relation to the prize, indicating a personal interest in applying complex theoretical concepts.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants generally express mixed feelings about the prize, with some appreciating its recognition of significant contributions while others critique its focus and the handling of funding. No consensus is reached regarding the effectiveness or implications of the prize.

Contextual Notes

Participants reference specific individuals and their funding histories, indicating a concern about the relationship between funding and research productivity. There is also mention of the selection process for future prizes, which remains a topic of interest.

Devils
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Who said is there any money in Physics?

http://fundamentalphysicsprize.org/news.html
New annual US$3 million Fundamental Physics Prize recognizes transformative advances in the field
Inaugural nine recipients of the Prize receive US$27 million in aggregate, all of whom agree to form a Selection Committee to award future prizes

...
In its inaugural year, the Milner Foundation has awarded nine Fundamental Physics Prizes and the recipients are:

Nima Arkani-Hamed
Alan Guth
Alexei Kitaev
Maxim Kontsevich
Andrei Linde
Juan Maldacena
Nathan Seiberg
Ashoke Sen
Edward Witten
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Physics news on Phys.org
Interesting.
 
Haha, one condensed matter-esque guy! At least they didn't totally ignore those of us doing "applied physics"!
 
Physics Monkey said:
Haha, one condensed matter-esque guy! At least they didn't totally ignore those of us doing "applied physics"!

But they did ignore those of us doing "applied wikipedia". :frown:
 
Drakkith said:
But they did ignore those of us doing "applied wikipedia". :frown:

Bummer :cry:
 
Devils said:
Who said is there any money in Physics?

http://fundamentalphysicsprize.org/news.html
New annual US$3 million Fundamental Physics Prize recognizes transformative advances in the field
Inaugural nine recipients of the Prize receive US$27 million in aggregate, all of whom agree to form a Selection Committee to award future prizes

...
In its inaugural year, the Milner Foundation has awarded nine Fundamental Physics Prizes and the recipients are:

Nima Arkani-Hamed
Alan Guth
Alexei Kitaev
Maxim Kontsevich
Andrei Linde
Juan Maldacena
Nathan Seiberg
Ashoke Sen
Edward Witten

The "new horizons" prize is still a great perspective for some of us... not for amateurs, I guess, but anyway a good initiative. Interesting.
 
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It seems that how this money is being handled in a way which is likely to not give meaningful productive results. These guys are well funded already. For example Witten has got a few million of grants, but it didn't improve his productivity compared to when he didn't have that much. Outside this specific set of listed people, Erik Verlinde, for example, had its production almost down to 0 after he got 5 million in grants.

Maybe these prizes could have specific set of rules, like setting up small scale "Manhattan projects", to intensively study a project by arranging working group in a facility.
 
Devils said:
all of whom agree to form a Selection Committee to award future prizes
Wow, I was just thinking about, let's see, how to apply Seiberg-Witten invariants to topological computation as performed by tachyon condensation in an inflationary universe that's an uplift of an AdS/CFT duality. Also I was going to use motivic integration. And twistors. What a coincidence. I guess I should apply!
 
mitchell porter said:
Wow, I was just thinking about, let's see, how to apply Seiberg-Witten invariants to topological computation as performed by tachyon condensation in an inflationary universe that's an uplift of an AdS/CFT duality. Also I was going to use motivic integration. And twistors. What a coincidence. I guess I should apply!

I agree that you should try to publish :approve:
 
  • #10
Great !
 
  • #11
String +String... +String.good bye Nobel
 

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