The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has decided to award the Nobel Prize in Physics 2021 "for groundbreaking contributions to our understanding of complex physical systems," with one half jointly to Syukuro Manabe and Klaus Hasselmann "for the physical modelling of Earth's climate, quantifying variability and reliably predicting global warming," and the other half to Giorgio Parisi "for the discovery of the interplay of disorder and fluctuations in physical systems from atomic to planetary scales."
In the telephone interview onsite, Parisi said he was very happy with the news and that he was not expecting this. He also emphasized the importance of to "act now" against global warming.
Three Laureates share this year's Nobel Prize in Physics for their studies of chaotic and apparently random phenomena. Syukuro Manabe and Klaus Hasselmann laid the foundation of the knowledge of the Earth's climate and how humanity influences it. Giorgio Parisi is rewarded for his revolutionary contributions to the theory of disordered materials and random processes, according to a press release from the Academy.
"The discoveries being recognised this year demonstrate that our knowledge about the climate rests on a solid scientific foundation, based on a rigorous analysis of observations. This year's Laureates have all contributed to us gaining deeper insight into the properties and evolution of complex physical systems," said Thors Hans Hansson, chair of the Nobel Committee for Physics, in the release.
Syukuro Manabe, born in 1931 in Shingu, Japan, is a senior meteorologist at Princeton University in the United States.
Klaus Hasselmann, born in 1931 in Hamburg, Germany, is a professor at Max Planck Institute for Meteorology in Hamburg, Germany.
Giorgio Parisi, born in 1948 in Rome, Italy, is a professor at Sapienza University of Rome.
According to the Academy, this year's prize amount is 10 million Swedish kronor (about 1.15 million U.S. dollars), with one half jointly to Syukuro Manabe and Klaus Hasselmann and the other half to Giorgio Parisi. — Agencies
