Gerardus 't Hooft
Facts
Photo from the Nobel Foundation archive.
Gerardus 't Hooft
The Nobel Prize in Physics 1999
Born: 5 July 1946, Den Helder, the Netherlands
Affiliation at the time of the award: Utrecht University, Utrecht, the Netherlands
Prize motivation: “for elucidating the quantum structure of electroweak interactions in physics”
Prize share: 1/2
Work
According to modern physics, four fundamental forces exist in nature. Electromagnetic interaction is one of these. The weak interaction—responsible, for example, for the beta decay of nuclei—is another. In the 1960s, a unified theory was formulated for these two forces: the electroweak interaction. However, certain problems still remained to be solved. In the early 1970s, Gerardus t'Hooft and Martinus Veltman formulated and tested a mathematical theory that further explained the electroweak interaction.
Nobel Prizes and laureates
Six prizes were awarded for achievements that have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind. The 12 laureates' work and discoveries range from proteins' structures and machine learning to fighting for a world free of nuclear weapons.
See them all presented here.
