Scientists Syukuro Manabe, Klaus Hasselmann and Giorgio Parisi on Tuesday won the 2021 Nobel Prize in Physics for their “groundbreaking contributions” to the understanding of complex physical systems.
Manabe is a Japanese-born American, Hasselmann is from Germany and Parisi is from Italy. The winners will receive a prize money of 10 million Swedish kronor (about Rs 8.5 crore).
Manabe and Hasselmann jointly won one half of the prize for “reliably predicting global warming”, the award-giving committee said.
The other half went to Parisi for the “discovery of the interplay of disorder and fluctuations in physical systems from atomic to planetary scales”.
Manabe’s work has laid the foundation for “the development of current climate models”, the Nobel committee said. He showed how increased levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere lead to increased temperatures on the Earth’s surface.
Manabe’s fellow Nobel winner Hasselmann has been credited with creating a model that “links together weather and climate”.
Meanwhile, Parisi discovered “hidden patterns in disordered complex materials”, the award-giving body said. “His discoveries are among the most important contributions to the theory of complex systems,” it added.
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