Nobel Prize in Physics

Two Japanese and an American were awarded the 2008 Nobel Prize in Physics for their work in particle physics.
Dr. Yoichiro Nambu, a US citizen born in Japan, is a professor in the University of Chicago. He won the prize for discovery of the mechanism of spontaneous broken symmetry in subatomic physics. Japanese physicists Dr. Makoto Kobayashi and Dr. Toshihide Maskawa shared the other half of the prize for discovering the origin of the violation of CP symmetry, which predicted the existence of three another members of quarks in nature.

Twenty-years ago, I read a book by Dr. Nambu about quarks. That greatly enlightened me, although I had little knowledge in quantum physics. I am glad for hearing the news of his winning the award.

Dr. Maskawa commented about his award that he was rather happier when their theory was experimentally demonstrated. For outstanding theoretical physicists, the prize seems to be only a incidental consequence.