The American Physical Society announced that Prof. Peter Lepage, physics, will be the recipient of the 2016 J.J. Sakurai Prize for his research in quantum field theory, according to the University. The award, which recognizes work in Lepage’s specific field, comes with $10,000.
Prof. Peter Lepage
The Sakurai prize has been awarded for 30 years. Lepage is the first Cornellian to receive it since Prof. Emeritus Toichiro Kinoshita, physics, won it in 1990.
Lepage and his team have been working extensively on creating new ways of speeding and streamlining the process of simulating the ways protons, neutrons and other particles interact with each other by using quarks and gluons, in a field called quantum chromodynamics, according to the University.
The Sakurai Prize specifically commends exceptional research in particle theory, according to its website. The prize is given annually to honor J.J. Sakurai Ph.D. ’58, a pioneer in quantum mechanics. Lepage said this Cornell connection makes him particularly honored to receive the award, according to the University.
After receiving a bachelor’s degree from McGill University and a Ph.D. from Stanford University, Lepage came to Cornell to teach physics and has been a professor at the University for 37 years. Lepage said Sakurai’s textbooks have been particularly useful in his teaching, according to the University.
Lepage chaired the Department of Physics from 1999 to 2003 and served as the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences for a decade.
The award will be presented in April in an annual ceremony, according to the University.