Physicist Prof. Ashok Sen wins The Fundamental Physics Prize (Yuri Milner Prize, Russian Nobel)

Prof. Ashok Sen, a theoretical Indian Physicist at Allahabad is one among the nine winners of the first Yuri Milner Prize which is worth $ 3 million, the biggest academic prize in the world in terms of prized money. The prized money is around threefold as compared to the Nobel Prize.

Prof. Sen has been recognized for his String Theory.

The String Theory describes all forces of nature, incorporating the physics of gravity as well as Quantum field theory. Opening the path to the realization that all string theories are different limits of the same underlying theory.

What is The Fundamental Physics Prize (or Yuri Milner Prize or Russian Nobel) ?

• The Fundamental Physics Prize is awarded by the The Fundamental Physics Prize Foundation (a non-for-profit organization)
• Dedicated to awarding physicists involved in fundamental research
• Founded in July 2012 by physicist and internet entrepreneur Yuri Milner.
• This prize is the most lucrative academic prize in the world as of July 2012
• It is 3 times bigger than the amount given to the Nobel awardees. The monetary value exceeds that of the prestigious Nobel Prize, which last year stood at slightly more than $1 million.
• This prize is also dubbed by the media as ‘Russian Nobel’.
• This is world’s biggest prize in physics as of July 2012.
• Award Money: each award is worth $3 million.

Who is Yuri Milner?

• Yuri Borisovich (Bentsionovich) Milner is a Russian entrepreneur and venture capitalist.
• He founded investment firms Digital Sky Technologies (DST), now called Mail.ru Group and DST Global.
• Via Mail.ru Group and DST Global, Milner is an investor in Facebook, Zynga, Twitter, Spotify, ZocDoc, 360Buy.com and Groupon.
• quit his PhD in physics and made a billion dollars from social networking and other investments has established the most lucrative annual prize in the history of science.
• Yuri Milner made his fortune from investments in Facebook, Twitter, Zynga and Groupon.
• He has launched a clutch of awards to recognize advances in the obscure field of fundamental physics, which aims to understand the basic laws of nature.

Why Fundamental Physics Prize?

• As per Mr. Yuri Milner, when the Nobel prize is awarded for fundamental physics, the recipients are often at the end of their careers or even worse as it can take decades for theoretical advances to be proved right by experiments.

Yuri Milner Prize v/s Nobel Prize:

• Unlike Nobel Prize, the Milner Prize can go to even younger researchers because experimental verification of theoretical breakthroughs is not required.
• Also unlike a Nobel prize, which can be shared by 3 scientists at most, the Milner prize inflicts no such limit.
• Award Money for each award is worth $3 million which exceeds that of the prestigious Nobel Prize (last year slightly more than $1 million).
• Anyone can nominate a winner online, and the selection panel is public, in contrast to the secretive gathering and closed voting process that decides the Nobel prizes each year.