CANADIAN ASSOCIATION OF PHYSICISTS

ASSOCIATION CANADIENNE DES PHYSICIENS ET PHYSICIENNES

The Canadian Association of Physicists (CAP) is pleased to announce that the 2005 CAP/CRM Prize in Theoretical Physics is being awarded to Dr. Robert Myers of the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics for his contributions to gravitational physics and string theory. His work is significant for observational prospects to detect cosmic strings and has had a major influence on foundational questions including: understanding which dimensions of space-time are consistent with string theory, the dielectric response of branes to a background field, the relation between gauge theory and string theory, which space time singularities cannot be resolved by a physical theory.

Professor Rob Myers is an outstanding theoretical physicist on the world stage. He has had many groundbreaking contributions, ranging from aspects in gravitational physics to foundational aspects of string theory. Professor Myers has played a pivotal role in the development of string theory and is one of its most broad and creative researchers. He is a leader in the field and continues to open new ground and have an enormous impact in the field.

His publications are highly cited. He is one of the most cited theoretical particle physicists of all time and one of the physicists with most citations in the last five years, exhibiting his continuing influence in theoretical physics.

The high quality of his research work has been repeatedly recognized through his receiving prestigious research awards, such as his receipt of the CAP's Herzberg medal in 1999. Three times over he has won a prize in the annual Gravity Research Foundation Prize Essay Competition. Although this is a very prestigious competition, with other first place winners including physicists such as Steven Hawking, Rob Myers is one of only two physicists (with Gary Horowitz) throughout the entire history of this competition who have won the first prize more than once.

Besides being a first-class researcher, Rob Myers has been instrumental in building theoretical physics in general, and string theory in particular, within Canada. He brought string theory to McGill University more than a decade before other Canadian institutions began to move into this area. He was among the first three researchers hired by the fledgling Perimeter Institute, and his efforts there have been central in getting this institution properly started towards its goals of first-class research
excellence.

The CAP-CRM medal award is extremely well merited.

The annual CAP-CRM Prize in Theoretical and Mathematical Physics was first introduced in 1995. Dr. Myers will receive the 2005 Prize during the CAP's awards banquet to be held at the University of British Columbia on June 7th, 2005.

The Canadian Association of Physicists, founded in 1945, is a professional association representing over 1600 individual physicists and physics students in Canada, the U.S. and overseas, as well as a number of Corporate and Departmental Members. In addition to its learned activities, the CAP also undertakes a number of activities intended to encourage students to pursue a career in physics.

The Centre de recherches mathématiques is a national research centre in mathematics and theoretical physics jointly supported by the federal government, the province of Quebec, and the Université de Montréal where it is based. Among the activities of the CRM are thematic years, summer schools, workshops, seminars, and the publication of monographs, proceedings, and lecture notes in mathematics and physics.

For more information, please contact:

Canadian Association of Physicists
Tel: (613) 562-5614
Fax: (613) 562-5615
E-mail: cap@physics.uottawa.ca

or Centre de recherche mathématiques
Tel: (514) 343-7501
Fax: (514) 343-2254