Prestigious Science Prize for David Gross

Theoretical physicist David Gross has been awarded the 2026 Special Breakthrough Prize for his decades of significant contributions to physics, including major theoretical breakthroughs and leadership across the international science community.

Gross serves on ICTP's Scientific Council. He was one of two recipients of the Centre's 1988 Dirac Medal for his fundamental contributions to the understanding of nuclear forces at short distances and to the theory of superstrings. Together with Frank Wilczek, he discovered the mechanism of asymptotic freedom in non-Abelian gauge theories. Their work led to the two sharing the 2004 Nobel prize (with H. David Politzer) “for the discovery of asymptotic freedom in the theory of the strong interaction”.

ICTP congratulates Professor Gross on his latest achievement!