2010 Dirac Medal

On the occasion of the birthday of P.A.M. Dirac

we take pleasure in announcing that

the 2010 Dirac Medal and Prize

will be awarded to

Professor Nicola Cabibbo

University La Sapienza, Rome, Italy

Professor E.C.G. Sudarshan

University of Texas, Austin, Texas, USA

The 2010 Dirac Medal and Prize are awarded to Nicola Cabibbo (University La Sapienza, Rome, Italy) and Ennackal Chandy George Sudarshan (University of Texas, Austin, Texas, USA) in recognition of their fundamental contributions to the understanding of weak interactions and other aspects of theoretical physics.

Cabibbo’s important contributions to theoretical physics include the recognition of the significance of mixing in weak interactions, which has established the existence of a new class of physical constants, whose first example is the Cabibbo angle. This angle determines the mixing of strange quarks with non-strange quarks and has been measured experimentally. With the discovery of a third family of quarks and leptons, quark mixing led to the understanding of the phenomenon of CP violation.

Sudarshan’s important contributions to theoretical physics include the discovery (with Robert Marshak) of the V-A theory of weak interactions, which opened the way to the full description of the unified electroweak theory. He has also made innovative discoveries in the field of Quantum Optics, including the Optical Equivalence Theorem, which provides the foundation upon which the investigations of the manifestly quantum or non-classical character of the electromagnetic field are based.