John William Strutt, Lord Rayleigh Medal and Prize recipients

2023

Professor Nikolas Mavromatos

For fundamental contributions to theoretical physics, especially the suggestion of quantum gravity-induced modifications of the vacuum optical properties, a proposition that led to a new arena of theoretical and experimental investigation.

Find out more about Professor Nikolas Mavromatos

2022

Professor Benjamin Doyon
King's College London

For pioneering contributions to a new hydrodynamic theory for the large-scale behaviours of integrable systems, which had a major influence in condensed matter, cold atomic and statistical physics research.

2021

Professor Jerome P Gauntlett
Imperial College London

For distinguished contributions to our understanding of string theory and its application to quantum field theory, black holes, condensed matter physics and geometry.

2020

Professor Kellogg Stelle
Imperial College London

For his seminal contributions to fundamental physics: the first quantum theory of gravity, the construction of braneworld cosmologies, and the discovery of the supermembrane and fundamental work on supersymmetric field theories and supergravity.

2019

Professor Nigel Cooper
University of Cambridge
For profound contributions to the quantum theory of many-particle systems, concerning both topological phases of cold atoms in artificial gauge fields and novel phenomena in electronic materials.

2018

Dr Owen Saxton
Murray Edwards College, University of Cambridge
For his contributions to the Gerchberg-Saxton computer algorithm, decades ahead of its time but now prevalent in phase retrieval, and for his foundational image processing programs, still influential in front line electron microscopy.

2017

Professor Nigel Glover
Durham University
For pioneering new methods for the application of perturbative quantum chromodynamics to high-energy processes involving energetic jets, leading to sophisticated simulation codes that are being used to describe LHC data.

2015

Professor Christopher Pickard
University College London
For his development of new theories and computational tools for the first principles investigation of matter, which have greatly aided the interpretation of magnetic resonance experiments, have revealed a range of unexpected phenomena in materials at extreme pressures, and increasingly underpin computational materials discovery.

2013

Professor Edmund Copeland
University of Nottingham
For his work on particle/string cosmology from the evolution of cosmic superstrings, to the determination of the nature of Inflation in string cosmology and to constraining dynamical models of dark energy and modified gravity.

2011

Professor Arkady Tseytlin
Imperial College London
For his contributions to the understanding of string theory and of its relation to conventional quantum field theories, and in particular to non-abelian gauge theories that form the basis for our current theoretical description of elementary particle interactions.

2009

Professor Robin Ball
University of Warwick
For his outstanding contributions to the understanding of diverse complex phenomena associated with growth processes and pattern formation.

2008

Professor John Chalker
University of Oxford
For important original and innovative contributions to solid-state physics, particularly in the area of exotic quantum phenomena.