Nobel Prize for Physics

Nobel Prize for Physics 

News: The 2021 Nobel Prize in Physics is awarded with one half jointly to Syukuro Manabe, Klaus Hasselmann and the other half to Giorgio Parisi “for groundbreaking contributions to our understanding of complex physical systems.”This is the first time climate scientists (Manabe and Hasselmann) have been awarded the Physics Nobel. Last year, the award was given for the research into black holes. 

Details:
• Manabe and Hasselmann are awarded for work in physical modelling of Earth’s climate, quantifying variability and reliably predicting global warming. They 
• Demonstrated how increases in the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere would increase global temperatures, laying the foundations for current climate models. 
• Parisi is awarded for “the discovery of the interplay of disorder and fluctuations in physical systems from atomic to planetary scales.”He “built a deep physical and mathematical model” that made it possible to understand complex systems in fields such as mathematics, biology, neuroscience and machine learning. 

Climate Model: 
• Manabe is a senior meteorologist and climatologist at Princeton University. 
• In the 1960s, he led groundbreaking research into how increased levels of carbon dioxide lead to higher temperatures on the surface of the Earth. 
• This laid the foundation for the development of current climate models. 
• Hasselmann is a German physicist and oceanographer who greatly advanced public understanding of climate change through the creation of a model that links climate and chaotic weather systems. 
• Parisi has focused on quantum field theory and complex systems. 
• This is the first-time climate scientists have been awarded the Physics Nobel. 
• The IPCC had won the Peace Nobel in 2007, an acknowledgement of its efforts in creating awareness for the fight against climate change. 
• A Chemistry Nobel was also awarded to Paul Crutzen in 1995, for his work on the ozone layer, is considered the only other time someone from atmospheric sciences has won this honour. 
• The recognition of Manabe and Hasselmann, therefore, is being seen as an acknowledgement of the importance that climate science holds in today’s world.