C.N. Yang Institute for Theoretical Physics

Fred Goldhaber was a faculty member at the C.N. Yang Institute for Theoretical Physics from 1967 to 2001.  He was known both for his deep insights and collegial dispositions.  Obituary:

2003 Nobel Laureate David Gross presented the 2024 Colloquium, the third in this annual series. In a wide-ranging review of the discovery and development of Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD), a cornerstone of the Standard Model of fundamental matter and forces. In a spirited presentation, Prof. Gross gave students, postdocs and faculty alike a first-hand perspective of the ideas and experiments that led to the threshold of the discovery of asymptotic freedom, the signature property of nonabelian gauge theories like QCD, and to the consequences that have flowed from that discovery.   The colloquium was a standing-room only affair, capping a day of conversations, including a lunch with graduate students.

Yichul Choi received a 2024 President's Award for Distinguished Doctoral Students in recognition of "outstanding merit" for his dissertation research, Generalized Symmetries in Quantum Field Theory and Particle Physics. His doctoral research was supervised by Shu-Heng Shao and Zohar Komorgadski.  The concept of generalized symmetries has a special resonance at the YITP, named for its founding director, the originator of the application of nonabelian symmetries to quantum field theory.   Yichul has joined the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton as a Roger Dashen Member.  Other YITP winners of Presidential Awards include Connor Behan (2019), Wolfger Peelars (2016), Mao Zeng (2016), Matt von Hippel (2014), Abhijit Gadde (2012), Leandro Almeida (2010) and Ilmo Sung (2010), Carola Berger (2003), Shu-Chiuan Chang, (2002),  Gianluca Oderda (1999), Shan-Ho Tsai (1998) and Alexander Kusenko (1994).

Waltraut Knop won the John Marburger III Fellowship in Science and Engineering and Mathematics, named for Stony Brook's former president and Director of Brookhaven Laboratory, to continue her projects with advisor Leonardo Rastelli, with new results bridging the gap between quantum fields and string theories.

The faculty and alumni of the C.N. Yang Institute for Theoretical Physics mark with sadness the loss of Jim Simons.  His research achievements, creative spirit, friendship and generosity will help guide the path of science for many years to come.