IAS Scholars Past, Present, and Future Celebrated by Breakthrough Prize Foundation

A number of past, present, and future IAS scholars have been named among the 2026 Breakthrough Prize Foundation laureates. Popularly known as "the Oscars® of Science," Breakthrough Prize Foundation awards honor those whose research is "significantly driving [the] growth of human knowledge."

The IAS-affiliated scholars were recognized in the Physics and Mathematics categories. According to the Foundation's citation, the honorees in these categories "have constructed theories of the fundamental forces of nature and probed them to mind-blowing precision," as well as revealing "deep truths about the mathematical behavior of waves."

The Breakthrough Prize in Mathematics was awarded to Frank Merle, Member (1996, 2001, 2003–04) in the School of Mathematics. He was cited for significantly advancing understanding of "the mathematical descriptions of how waves, fluids, and other dynamic systems change over time. His work has a particular focus on singularities: points where solutions to the equations surge to infinity. Alone and in collaborations, he has solved several fundamental problems, including proving that certain equations long thought to be well-behaved actually 'blow up', or become infinite, in finite time."

David J. Gross, Member (1973–74, 1977–78) in the School of Natural Sciences, was announced as the winner of the Special Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics. Described as "a leading figure" in his field, Gross was lauded for research conducted with Frank Wilczek, Professor (1989–2000) in the School. Gross and Wilczek discovered that "the strong [nuclear] force works the opposite way to familiar forces like gravity: it gets weaker as particles approach each other, but stronger as they move apart." This work was foundational to the Standard Model of particle physics.

Each of the scholars named as a New Horizons in Mathematics Prize recipient is affiliated with the School of Mathematics. This includes Otis Chodosh, Veblen Research Instructor (2016–19), who "has settled several questions in differential geometry that had been open since the 1970s and 1980s," alongside Vesselin Dimitrov, Member (2017–18, 2022–23), and Yunqing Tang, Member (2016–17), who "have solved long-standing problems in number theory that had resisted all previous approaches." Hong Wang, Member (2019–21), also received the prize for her work "on a family of notoriously difficult problems in harmonic analysis."

Four of the recipients of the New Horizons in Physics Prizes are affiliated with the School of Natural Sciences. Clay Córdova, Member (2015–19), was recognized alongside his colleagues Shu-Heng Shao, Member (2016–21), and Yifan Wang, incoming Visiting Professor (2026–27), for "discover[ing] and develop[ing] the theory of 'generalized symmetries' in quantum field theory." The citation continues: "Their work has opened a broad new field with applications ranging from falsifying theories beyond the Standard Model to simulating fundamental particles on a lattice." Meanwhile, James Colin Hill, Member (2017–19), was part of a team of scholars who received the prize for "producing the most precise tests to date" of gravitational lensing of the cosmic microwave background, namely "the subtle bending of light from the early universe by the matter it passes on its way to us."

Mingjia Zhang, von Neumann Fellow (2025–26) in the School of Mathematics, and Anna Skorobogatova, Visitor (2020–21) in the School, each received a Maryam Mirzakhani New Frontiers Prize for their respective work. Zhang was celebrated for providing "a way to better understand the geometry of Mantovan's celebrated 'product formula' in number theory," while Skorobogatova was honored for resolving "a long-standing question about the structure of singularities of area-minimizing surfaces."

Finally, the inaugural Vera Rubin New Frontiers Prize, which recognizes women physicists within two years of their Ph.D. who have already made important contributions to science, was presented to Carolina Figueiredo of Princeton University. Figueiredo is also a visiting graduate student in the Institute's School of Natural Sciences. She was recognized for a discovery that has "reformulate[d] the foundations of particle physics in purely geometric terms."

Read the full citations on the Breakthrough Prize Foundation website.