CAP Medal and Award Winners
The Canadian Association of Physicists (CAP) and its medal partners are pleased to announce the recipients of the 2024 CAP medals.
The 2024 medalists have been invited to give a plenary lecture as part of the 2024 CAP Conference program, and to receive their medals at the Medalists' Recognition Dinner in London, ON on Wednesday, May 29, 2024. Please refer to the
Congress-at-a-glance for the schedule of plenary lectures by the CAP medal winners. If any of the medalists are unable to attend the conference, their medal will be presented at another mutually agreed upon time or sent to them separately after the conference.
CRM
view medal information back to top
Bianca Dittrich , Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics ,
in recognition of her important contributions to our understanding of the problem of observables in quantum gravity, and for her advancement of spin foam approaches to quantum gravity.
"I am deeply honoured, very happy, and thankful for receiving this prize. I want to thank the CAP and the CRM for this recognition, as well as my remarkable colleagues, students, and collaborators, with whom it has been a joy to work alongside" view the press release
CRM
view medal information back to top
Yanqin Wu , University of Toronto ,
in recognition of her outstanding and impactful contributions to our understanding of the evolution of planets and planetary systems.
"It's a great honour to be recognized by the biggest body of physicists in a country that has adopted me. It is also a recognition of our vibrant community of theoretical astrophysicists." view the press release
CRM
view medal information back to top
David London , Université de Montréal ,
in recognition of his outstanding contributions to the theory of elementary particles, including trailblazing contributions to the analysis of B meson decays and CP violation in the Standard Model of particle physics.
"It is a great honour to receive the 2022 CAP-CRM Prize in Theoretical and Mathematical Physics. But I must also acknowledge the enormous contributions of my many collaborators, postdocs and students over the years: you also deserve a share of this award. Thank you." view the press release
CRM
view medal information back to top
Robert Raussendorf , University of British Columbia ,
in recognition of to recognize his eminent contributions to the theory of quantum computing, including groundbreaking work on measurement-based or "one way" quantum computing, fault-tolerant quantum computing, and computationally universal quantum phases of matter.
"I feel very honoured and delighted to receive the 2021 CAP-CRM prize in theoretical and mathematical physics. I also view it as a recognition of the fact that quantum computation needs fundamental research." view the press release
CRM
view medal information back to top
CRM
view medal information back to top
Jaume Gomis , Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics ,
in recognition of for his broad range of important contributions to string theory and strongly coupled gauge theories, including the pioneering use of nonlocal observables, the exact computation of physical quantities in quantum field theory, and the unravelling of the nonperturbative dynamics of gauge theories.
"It is a thrill and an honour to be recognized for my work by CAP-CRM, and to join, through this distinction, such accomplished scientists." view the press release
CRM
view medal information back to top
Ariel Zhitnitsky , University of British Columbia ,
in recognition of for his ground-breaking contributions to theoretical high energy physics, in particular for his development of the ``invisible axion" model, and for his work on the vacuum structure of non-Abelian gauge theories.
"It is a great honour to join the list of previous winners, given that every single name is associated with extraordinary achievements. This is especially true for the UBC Physics Department with 5 (now 6) members listed: Bill Unruh, Ian Affleck, Gordon Semenoff, Matt Choptuik, Mark Raamsdonk." view the press release
CRM
view medal information back to top
Raymond Laflamme , Institute for Quantum Computing/University of Waterloo ,
in recognition of for his ground-breaking contributions on quantum information.
"As a student in Cambridge, Professor Werner Israel regularly visited Professor Stephen Hawking. I remember looking up to him as an eminent scientist and someone to emulate. Being considered alongside Werner and the impressive group of researchers awarded the CAP-CRM prize in the past, is truly an honour." view the press release
CRM
view medal information back to top
Freddy Cachazo , Perimeter Institute ,
in recognition of for introducing elegant new mathematical ideas and methods that have led to unexpected insights in the way scattering amplitudes are calculated in Supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory. Inspired in part by twistor-string theory, the Cachazo-Svrcek-Witten (CSW) and Britto-Cachazo-Feng-Witten (BCFW) recursion relations revolutionized the field, making it possible to perform previously impossible calculations analytically in a few lines using explicit integral formulae. These results turned out to be in remarkable correspondence with structures explored concurrently by mathematicians for completely different purposes, establishing a suggestive link with the modern theory of integrable systems.
"I would like to thank the Canadian Association of Physicists and the Centre de recherches mathématiques for this remarkable honour. I would also like to thank my collaborators, both physicists and mathematicians, for years of exciting research adventures." view the press release
CRM
view medal information back to top
Charles Gale , McGill University ,
in recognition of for his distinguished original research contributions to three areas of theoretical nuclear physics: the determination of the equation of state from medium energy heavy ion collisions, the use of photons, lepton pairs and jets as probes of the hot and dense matter formed in high energy heavy ion collisions, and the implementation of a state-of-the-art computer code for 3+1 dimensional second-order viscous relativistic fluid dynamics for heavy ion collisions.
"I am thrilled and honoured to receive this award, and I am grateful to the CAP and to the CRM for their sponsorship, and to my peers for their support. I gladly share this recognition with my family, and my students and collaborators, past and present." view the press release
CRM
view medal information back to top
Mark Van Raamsdonk , University of British Columbia ,
in recognition of for his highly original, influential contributions to several areas of theoretical physics, including string theory, quantum field theory, and quantum gravity. Highlights include advances in the theory of D-branes and other non-perturbative objects in string theory, the ultraviolet-infrared mixing in non-commutative quantum field theory, and the deconfinement transition in gauge theory, as well as his novel proposal that the emergence of spacetime is profoundly connected with quantum entanglement.
"I would like to thank the CAP and CRM for this tremendous honour. I am most grateful for the support of my family, my collaborators, my department, the Canadian physics community, and the people of Canada." view the press release
CRM
view medal information back to top
Luc Vinet , University of Montreal ,
in recognition of for his outstanding and continued contributions to mathematical physics, mainly based on the study of symmetries, algebraic structures, and special functions.
"This award really means much to me and receiving it gives me great pleasure.
I wish to thank CAP and CRM and the many who have a share in this most appreciated kudo. Cheers for mathematical physics at the CRM and in Canada!" view the press release
CRM
view medal information back to top
Robert Brandenberger , McGill University ,
in recognition of for his pioneering contributions in the area of theoretical cosmology especially the interplay of particle physics and cosmology.
"I feel greatly honored to have received this prestigious award. I am grateful to the Canadian Association of Physicists and to the Centre de Recherches Mathematiques for recognizing the research I have been involved in. I would like to share the credit for this work with all of my past and present students and other collaborators, without whom none of this would have been possible." view the press release
CRM
view medal information back to top
Clifford Burgess , McMaster University/Perimeter Institute ,
in recognition of for his prolific and influential work in theoretical physics, which covers many different topics ranging from condensed matter theory to particle physics and string theory. Professor Burgess made seminal contributions in all these fields, but his most widely recognized contributions are in the areas of string and brane cosmology, where he developed interesting and pathbreaking ideas about how strings or branes can generate inflation in the early universe.
"I am still taking it in, but it is very gratifying to receive this kind recognition from one's peers. I am grateful to both the CAP and the CRM for their efforts to shine a spotlight in this way on the efforts of physicists in Canada toiling away in the theoretical trenches." view the press release
CRM
view medal information back to top
Hong Guo , McGill University ,
in recognition of for his pioneering work on the ab initio theory of transport in nanoscale systems, including the theory of circuits in which current flows through molecules.
"I am extremely happy and honoured to be named the recipient of the 2009 CAP-CRM Prize. I wish to thank CAP and CRM for this generous recognition" view the press release
CRM
view medal information back to top
Richard Cleve , University of Waterloo ,
in recognition of for fundamental results in quantum information theory, including the structure of quantum algorithms and the foundations of quantum communication complexity.
view the press release
