Nobel Prize in Physics (1998, awarded to Kadanoff for his work)

The Nobel Prize in Physics awarded in 1998 to Leo Kadanoff recognized his pioneering work in understanding phase transitions and critical phenomena—how materials change states, like from liquid to gas. Kadanoff developed concepts of scale and universality, showing that diverse systems share common behavior near critical points. His work provided fundamental insights into how microscopic interactions lead to large-scale patterns, influencing fields from condensed matter physics to cosmology. By revealing the underlying principles of these complex processes, Kadanoff's contributions advanced our comprehension of nature's order and transformations.