2015 DIRAC MEDAL AND PRIZE

On the occasion of the birthday of P.A.M. Dirac
we take pleasure in announcing that
the 2015 Dirac Medal and Prize

have been awarded to

Alexei Kitaev

California Institute of Technology, USA

Gregory W. Moore

Rutgers University, USA

and

Nicholas Read

Yale University, USA

The 2015 Dirac Medal and Prize have been awarded to Professors Alexei Kitaev
(California Institute of Technology), Gregory W. Moore (Rutgers University) and
Nicholas Read (Yale University) for their interdisciplinary contributions which
introduced  concepts of conformal field theory and non-abelian quasiparticle statistics
in condensed matter systems and  applications of these ideas to quantum computation.
Their contributions have played a fundamental role in recent advances in our
understanding of the quantum states of matter and quantum entanglement theory.  

The joint work of Moore and Read on Non-Abelions in the Quantum Hall Effect has
had an enormous impact in condensed matter physics, where it has motivated a
considerable amount of experimental work as well as theoretical developments
involving topological insulators and superconductors. It also inspired the ground-
breaking work of Kitaev on topological quantum computing. Kitaev's work on fault-
tolerant quantum computation using topological quantum phases with non-abelian
anyons has had profound implications in quantum information theory and has
triggered an intense experimental search for Majorana quasi-particle excitations.  

The awardees have also independently made important contributions in different areas
of theoretical physics, including  mathematical physics, conformal field theory, string
theory, condensed matter physics and quantum information theory. 

                                                                                                                                                          8 August 2015