On Tuesday, the physics prize went to British scientists David Thouless, Duncan Haldane and Michael Kosterlitz for their work in on “topology”, a highly specialized mathematics field studying unusual phases or states of matter which may one day yield superfast and small computers. "Thanks to their pioneering work, the hunt is now on for new and exotic phases of matter," the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said in a statement awarding the 8 million Swedish crown ($937,000) prize. Press release: The Nobel Prize in Physics 2016

4 October 2016

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has decided to award the Nobel Prize in Physics 2016 with one half to

David J. Thouless

University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA

and the other half to

F. Duncan M. Haldane

Princeton University, NJ, USA

and

J. Michael Kosterlitz

Brown University, Providence, RI, USA

”for theoretical discoveries of topological phase transitions and topological phases of matter”

They revealed the secrets of exotic matter

This year’s Laureates opened the door on an unknown world where matter can assume strange states. Awarding the prize in two parts, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences handed one half to David J. Thouless of the University of Washington and the second half to F. Duncan M. Haldane of Princeton University and J. Michael Kosterlitz of Brown University. Thouless, 82, is a professor emeritus at the University of Washington, Haldane, 65, is a physics professor at Princeton University in New Jersey, and Kosterlitz, 73, is a physics professor at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. Nobel judges often award discoveries made decades ago, to make sure they withstand the test of time. “At the risk of making a bad mistake, I would say that this quantum computation stuff is a long way from being practical.”

This year’s Nobel Prize announcements started Monday with the medicine award going to Japanese biologist Yoshinori Ohsumi for discoveries on autophagy, the process by which a cell breaks down and recycles content. STOCKHOLM: The Nobel Chemistry Prize is to be announced on Wednesday, with observers suggesting it could go to gene-editing, the invention of the rechargeable battery or the discovery of new periodic elements. The economics prize will be announced on Monday, October 10, and the literature prize wraps things up on October 13.
British scientists, David Thouless, Duncan Haldane, and John M. Kosterlitz, are awarded the 2016 Nobel Prize in Physics "for theoretical discoveries of topological phase transitions and topological phases of matter".