{"id":369378,"date":"2026-08-11T15:43:31","date_gmt":"2026-08-11T10:13:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/?p=369378"},"modified":"2026-08-11T15:43:31","modified_gmt":"2026-08-11T10:13:31","slug":"dirac-medal-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/dirac-medal-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"Dirac Medal 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"content-box-green\">\n<p><strong>News:<\/strong> Four physicists, including Indian physicist Deepak Dhar, have been awarded the Dirac Medal 2026 for contributions to statistical mechanics and theoretical physics.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h2 class=\"red-h2-box\">About Dirac Medal 2026<\/h2>\n<figure id=\"attachment_369382\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-369382\" style=\"width: 539px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-369382\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Source-ICTP.jpg?resize=539%2C302&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Dirac Medal 2026\" width=\"539\" height=\"302\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Source-ICTP.jpg?resize=300%2C168&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Source-ICTP.jpg?resize=1024%2C573&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Source-ICTP.jpg?resize=768%2C430&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Source-ICTP.jpg?resize=1536%2C859&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Source-ICTP.jpg?w=1557&amp;ssl=1 1557w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 539px) 100vw, 539px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-369382\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Source &#8211; ICTP<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Origin:<\/strong> The Dirac Medal was <strong>first awarded in 1985<\/strong> by the <strong>International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP).<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Naming:<\/strong> It is <strong>named after P.A.M. Dirac,<\/strong> one of the greatest physicists of the 20th century.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Frequency:<\/strong> The Medal is <strong>awarded annually on August 8<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Eligibility:<\/strong> It is awarded to scientists who have <strong>made significant contributions to theoretical physics.\u00a0<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>The Medal is <strong>not awarded to Nobel Laureates, Fields Medallists, or Wolf Foundation Prize winners.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2 class=\"yellow-h2-box\">Recipients of Dirac Medal 2026<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>The <strong>2026 Dirac Medal was awarded to four physicists &#8211;\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Deepak Dhar:<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Country:<\/strong> He is from <strong>Uttar Pradesh, India. <\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Affiliation:<\/strong> He is <strong>an Indian National Science Academy (INSA)<\/strong> distinguished <strong>professor<\/strong> at the <strong>International Centre for Theoretical Sciences,<\/strong> in <strong>Bengaluru<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Contribution:<\/strong> He made <strong>pioneering contributions to statistical physics<\/strong>, especially through his exact solution of the <strong>Abelian sandpile model.<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>His work showed <strong>how simple interactions can produce complex behaviour<\/strong> and <strong>how small events<\/strong> <strong>can sometimes trigger large changes in a system. <\/strong><\/li>\n<li>His research has also been <strong>used to understand phenomena such as earthquakes, traffic jams and fluctuations in financial markets.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Other Achievements:<\/strong> In <strong>2022<\/strong>, he became the <strong>first Indian to receive the Boltzmann Medal.<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>He also received the <strong>Padma Bhushan in 2023<\/strong> and the <strong>Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize in 1991.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Bernard Derrida: <\/strong> He made important contributions to <strong>statistical mechanics, spin glasses and non-equilibrium physics.<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>His <strong>Random Energy Model<\/strong> showed how systems with <strong>many possible configurations can sometimes be dominated by a small number of favourable configurations. <\/strong><\/li>\n<li>His work has <strong>also contributed to neural networks, optimisation and the study of driven systems.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Marc M\u00e9zard: <\/strong>He made major contributions to the <strong>study of disordered systems and spin glasses.<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>He helped <strong>develop the cavity methodwith Giorgio Parisi and Miguel Virasoro. <\/strong><\/li>\n<li>He later <strong>applied these ideas to computer science, optimisation, information processing and neural networks. <\/strong><\/li>\n<li>His recent work <strong>also focuses on machine learning, deep networks and generative models.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Haim Sompolinsky: <\/strong>He pioneered the use of statistical physics to <strong>study neural circuits, memory and brain function.<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>He helped <strong>establish theoretical and computational neuroscience by applying statistical mechanics to neural networks<\/strong>, including the <strong>Hopfield model. <\/strong><\/li>\n<li>His later work <strong>examined biological and artificial networks, neural representations and deep networks<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2 class=\"red-h2-box\">About International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP)<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>ICTP is an <strong>international research institute<\/strong> working in the <strong>fields of physical and mathematical sciences.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Established:<\/strong> It was <strong>established in 1964.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Framework:<\/strong> It functions <strong>under a tripartite agreement involving<\/strong> the <strong>Italian Government, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), and International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Status:<\/strong> ICTP is a <strong>UNESCO Category 1 Institute.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Location:<\/strong> It is <strong>located in Trieste, Italy.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>News: Four physicists, including Indian physicist Deepak Dhar, have been awarded the Dirac Medal 2026 for contributions to statistical mechanics and theoretical physics. About Dirac Medal 2026 Origin: The Dirac Medal was first awarded in 1985 by the International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP). Naming: It is named after P.A.M. Dirac, one of the greatest&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/dirac-medal-2026\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Dirac Medal 2026<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10401,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1566,1738,12039,11210],"tags":[11872],"class_list":["post-369378","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-daily-factly-articles","category-science-and-technology-daily-factly-articles","category-knolls","category-personalities-in-news","tag-9pm-daily-factly","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/369378","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10401"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=369378"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/369378\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=369378"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=369378"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=369378"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}