The 2016 Nobel Prize in physics has been awarded to David J. Thouless, F. Duncan M. Haldane, and J. Michael Kosterlitz "for theoretical discoveries of topological phase transitions and topological phases of matter."
So exciting!
(This was a big subject that I remember often being discussed in Caltech's condensed-matter theory group when I was part of it. I am sure that it still is.)
Theoretical condensed-matter physics, statistical mechanics, and topology are the big winners. That's just about a home-team victory this year!
(My preference still would have been chaos being recognized, but I am very happy with this year's result. I also want Michael Berry to get a richly-deserved award for geometric phases.)
Update (10/05/16): Here is an editorial about the (very severe) lack of women who have won the Nobel Prize in Physics. And a couple of weeks ago, a top contender Deborah Jin died way too young, so among other tragedies, now she can't get the Nobel that her work richly merits.
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