Iranian Scientist Among Breakthrough Prize 2017 Winners

Iranian scientist and string theorist Cumrun Vafa is among the three recipients of the 2017 Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics. The Breakthrough Prize was given to the trio of theorists who have made serious advances in string theory, which attempts to unify the four forces in the universe - electromagnetic force, the strong nuclear force, the weak nuclear force, and gravity - together into one unified theory. Andrew Strominger and Vafa from Harvard, and Joseph Polchinski of the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics at the University of California, Santa Barbara, are the recipients, the breakthroughprize.org reported. The prize founders announced the recipients on December 4, marking the organization’s fifth anniversary recognizing top achievements in life sciences, fundamental physics and mathematics. Each of the Breakthrough Prizes is worth $3 million, the largest individual monetary prize in science. Vafa has been doing research and teaching in Harvard University for more than 30 years.