David Politzer

David Politzer is an American physicist renowned for his contributions to theoretical particle physics, particularly in the study of quantum chromodynamics (QCD), which explains how quarks and gluons interact inside protons and neutrons. In 1973, he shared the Nobel Prize in Physics for his discovery of "asymptotic freedom," a phenomenon where particles interact more weakly at high energies. This insight transformed our understanding of the strong force that holds atomic nuclei together, revealing that quarks behave almost freely at extremely short distances, a concept with profound implications for particle physics and our understanding of the universe's fundamental forces.