Nobel 2025: Which Physics work will reach glory?

Ideas that were once confined to the world of science fiction – from “invisibility cloaks” to quantum computers or the mathematical theory behind image compression – are now very close to reaching the pinnacle of prestige when the 2025 Nobel Prize in Physics is announced on the afternoon of October 7 (Vietnam time) in the Swedish capital Stockholm.

The Nobel Prize in Physics was announced one day after the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine honored the trio of scientists Mary Brunkow, Fred Ramsdell (all Americans) and Shimon Sakaguchi (Japan) for discovering the self-regulating mechanism of the immune system – the biological “guardians” that help the human body maintain a delicate balance between attack and protection.

And as Medicine seeks to preserve life, Physics continues its journey to explore the deepest limits of nature.

Wavelet theory is emerging as one of the most promising candidates, according to analysts. Although it may sound abstract, this mathematical theory is behind every image the modern world creates and shares every day – from photos taken on phones to videos streamed online.

“Wavelet theory has become the mathematical language of the imaging age,” says David Pendlebury of the analytics firm Clarivate, which predicts Nobel Prize winners based on the number of citations their papers receive. The three most frequently cited scientists in the field are Belgian physicist Ingrid Daubechies, and French mathematicians Stephane Mallat and Yves Meyer, who turned seemingly pure mathematics into the foundation of modern data compression technology.

Another highly anticipated field is metamaterials – where scientists are looking to manipulate light and electromagnetic waves in unprecedented ways.

British physicist John B. Pendry, who pioneered the concept of the “invisibility cloak,” is back on the list of potential candidates. “We’ve been talking about them for years, and often when the talk stops, that’s when the Nobel knocks,” Sveriges Radio science journalist Lars Brostrom commented.

No less exciting is the race in the field of quantum information, where humans are seeking to exploit the strange principles of quantum mechanics to build next-generation computers and encryption systems.

Names like Peter Shor, Gilles Brassard, Charles H. Bennett and David Deutsch are considered the “four pillars” of the industry – people who laid the foundations for the era where bits gave way to qubits, opening up a completely new way for the world to store and process information.

In addition, many observers also expect this year's award to honor Astrophysics, a field that always strongly inspires the public.

Scientists Carlos Frenk, Julio Navarro and Simon White are often mentioned for their models of galaxy formation. Others believe that the inflationary theory of the universe – developed by American theoretical physicist Alan Guth and Russian-American theoretical physicist Andrei Linde – should be honored, because their research explains how the universe expanded exponentially in the first moments after the Big Bang.

And at the border between Physics and nanotechnology, Swiss physicist Christoph Gerber's development of the atomic force microscope, which allows observing matter at the atomic level, is also considered a worthy candidate.

Last year, the 2024 Nobel Prize in Physics surprised everyone by honoring the two “fathers” of artificial intelligence (AI), Geoffrey Hinton and John Hopfield – who once warned that their own inventions could change, even threaten, the future of humanity.

After the Physics Prize, the winner of the 2025 Nobel Prize in Chemistry will be announced on October 8, followed by Literature (October 9), Peace (October 10) and finally the winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics (October 14).

According to tradition, the winning scientists will be awarded a certificate, a Gold Medal and a $1 million prize by King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden in a solemn ceremony on December 10, the anniversary of the death of scientist Alfred Nobel - who turned his will into an immortal legacy, to honor the minds that change the world./.

(TTXVN/Vietnam+)

Source: https://www.vietnamplus.vn/nobel-2025-cong-trinh-vat-ly-nao-se-cham-ngo-vinh-quang-post1068635.vnp