Americans win Nobel physics prize

Three American scientists today won the 2004 Nobel Prize in physics for their work in the discovery and exploration of strong force and quarks.

David Gross, David Politzer and Frank Wilczeck of the University of California, the California Institute of Technology and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology made important theoretical discoveries “concerning the strong force, or the 'colour force' as it is also called,” said the Nobel citation.

“The strong force is the one that is dominant in the atomic nucleus, acting between the quarks inside the proton and the neutron.”

Their discoveries, made public in 1973, led to the theory of quantum chromodynamics, or QCD.

“This theory was an important contribution to the Standard Model, the theory that describes all physics connected with the electromagnetic force (which acts between charged particles), the weak force (which is important for the sun’s energy production) and the strong force (which acts between quarks),” the foundation said.

Alfred Nobel, the wealthy Swedish industrialist and inventor of dynamite who endowed the prizes, left only vague guidelines for the selection committee.

In his will, he said the prize should be given to those who “shall have conferred the greatest benefit on mankind” and “shall have made the most important discovery or invention within the field of physics”.