Ahmed Almheiri speaks on the stage at Wolfensohn Hall at the Institute for Advanced Study — Ahmed Almheiri, winner of the 2021 New Horizons in Physics Prize, gives a talk on "Quantum Information and the Black Hole Interior" during Prospects in Theoretical Physics 2018.

IAS Scholars Win 2021 Breakthrough and New Horizons Prizes

The Breakthrough Prize Foundation has announced the recipients of the 2021 Breakthrough and New Horizons Prizes, including current Member Ahmed Almheiri (New Horizons Prize in Physics) and former Member Martin Hairer (Breakthrough Prize in Mathematics).

2021 New Horizons in Physics Prize

Ahmed Almheiri, current Long-term Member in the School of Natural Sciences, has been awarded the 2021 New Horizons in Physics Prize. Almheiri shares the prize with Geoff Penington, who will join IAS as a Junior Visiting Professor in 2021. Almheiri and Penington and their collaborators are cited for calculating the quantum information content of a black hole and its radiation.

Tracy Slatyer, Junior Visiting Professor (2018–19) and Member (2010–13) in the School, has also received the award. Slatyer is recognized for major contributions to particle astrophysics, from models of dark matter to the discovery of the “Fermi Bubbles.”

Finally, Rouven Essig, Visitor (2011–12) and Tomer Volansky, Member (2017–19, 2007–10), with collaborators, are awarded the prize in recognition of advances in the detection of sub-GeV dark matter especially in regards to the SENSEI experiment.

2021 Breakthrough Prize in Mathematics

Martin Hairer, Member (2014) in the School of Mathematics, has been awarded the 2021 Breakthrough Prize in Mathematics. Haier is cited for transformative contributions to the theory of stochastic analysis, particularly the theory of regularity structures in stochastic partial differential equations.

2021 New Horizons in Mathematics Prize

2021 New Horizons in Mathematics Prizes have been awarded individually to Bhargav Bhatt, Member (2012–14) and Visitor (2020) in the School of Mathematics, and Aleksandr Logunov, Member (2017–18) in the School.

Bhatt is recognized for outstanding work in commutative algebra and arithmetic algebraic geometry, particularly on the development of p-adic cohomology theories.

Logunov is recognized for novel techniques to study solutions to elliptic equations, and their application to long-standing problems in nodal geometry.

Conferred by the Breakthrough Prize Foundation, the Breakthrough Prize is sponsored by Sergey Brin, Priscilla Chan and Mark Zuckerberg, Ma Huateng, Yuri and Julia Milner, and Anne Wojcicki. Winners in each field are chosen by selection committees composed of previous Breakthrough Prize laureates.