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International Colloquium on Group Theoretical Methods in Physics

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International Colloquium on Group Theoretical Methods in Physics
AbbreviationICGTMP
DisciplineMathematical physics
Publication details
PublisherVarious
History1972–present
FrequencyAnnual (1972–1988), Biennial (since 1988)


The International Colloquium on Group Theoretical Methods in Physics (ICGTMP) is an academic conference devoted to applications of group theory to physics. It was founded in 1972 by Henri Bacry and Aloysio Janner. It hosts a colloquium every two years. The ICGTMP is led by a Standing Committee, which helps select winners for the three major awards presented at the conference: the Wigner Medal (1978–2018), the Hermann Weyl Prize (since 2002) and the Weyl–Wigner Award (since 2022).

Wigner Medal[edit]

The Wigner Medal was an award designed "to recognize outstanding contributions to the understanding of physics through Group Theory". It was administered by The Group Theory and Fundamental Physics Foundation, a publicly supported organization.[1] The first award was given in 1978 to Eugene Wigner at the Integrative Conference on Group Theory and Mathematical Physics.[2]

The collaboration between the Standing Committee of the ICGTMP and the Foundation ended in 2020. In 2023 a new process for awarding the Wigner Medal was created by the Foundation. The new Wigner Medal can be granted in any field of theoretical physics. The new Wigner Medals for 2020 and 2022 were granted retrospectively in 2023. The first winners of the new prize were Yvette Kosmann-Schwarzbach,[3] Iwo Białynicki-Birula [pl][4] and Daniel Greenberger.[5]

The Standing Committee does not recognize the post-2018 Wigner Medals awarded by the Foundation as the continuation of the prize from 1978 through 2018.[6][7]

Weyl–Wigner Award[edit]

In 2020–21, the ICGTMP Standing Committee created a new prize to replace the Wigner Medal, called the Weyl–Wigner Award. The purpose of the Weyl–Wigner Award is "to recognize outstanding contributions to the understanding of physics through group theory, continuing the tradition of The Wigner Medal that was awarded at the International Colloquium on Group Theoretical Methods in Physics from 1978 to 2018." The recipients of this prize are chosen by an international selection committee elected by the Standing Committee.

The first Weyl–Wigner Award was awarded in Strasbourg in July 2022 during the ICGTMP Group34 Colloquium to Nicolai Reshetikhin.

Hermann Weyl Prize[edit]

The Hermann Weyl Prize was established to award young scientists "who have performed original work of significant scientific quality in the area of understanding physics through symmetries".[8]

Heinz-Dietrich Doebner convinced the Standing Committee that it would be necessary for the future development of the field to acknowledge young researchers who presented outstanding work and to motivate them, to continue and to diversify their activity. He proposed to award in each Colloquium a Prize. Ivan Todorov suggested to name this Prize after the mathematician and physicist Hermann Weyl. The first Weyl Prize was awarded in 2002 to Edward Frenkel.[citation needed]

List of conferences[edit]

Number Year Location Wigner Medal awardees[9] Proceedings
1st 1972 Marseille -
2nd 1973 Nijmegen - University of Nijmegen
3rd 1974 Marseille - University of Nijmegen
4th 1975 Nijmegen - Springer
5th 1976 Montreal - Academic Press
6th 1977 Tübingen - Springer
7th 1978 Austin, Texas Eugene Wigner and Valentine Bargmann Springer
8th 1979 Kiryat Anavim - Adam Hilger (Bristol, UK)
9th 1980 Cocoyoc Israel Gel'fand Springer
10th 1981 Canterbury -
11th 1982 Istanbul Louis Michel Springer
12th 1983 Trieste - Springer
13th 1984 Maryland Yuval Ne'eman World Scientific (Singapore)
14th 1985 Seoul -
15th 1986 Philadelphia Feza Gürsey
16th 1987 Varna - Springer
17th 1988 Montreal Isadore Singer
18th 1990 Moscow Francesco Iachello Springer
19th 1992 Salamanca Julius Wess and Bruno Zumino
20th 1994 Toyonaka - World Scientific
21st 1996 Goslar Victor Kac and Robert Moody
22nd 1998 Hobart Marcos Moshinsky
23rd 2000 Dubna Lochlainn O'Raifeartaigh
24th 2002 Paris Harry Jeannot Lipkin CRC Press
25th 2004 Cocoyoc Erdal İnönü CRC Press
26th 2006 New York Susumu Okubo
27th 2008 Yerevan -
28th 2010 Newcastle upon Tyne Michio Jimbo IOP
29th 2012 Tianjin C. Alden Mead [de][10][11] World Scientific
30th 2014 Ghent Joshua Zak[12] IOP
31st 2016 Rio de Janeiro Bertram Kostant Springer
32nd 2018 Prague Pavel Winternitz IOP
33rd 2020 Cotonou, cancelled by COVID-19
Weyl–Wigner Award awardees
34th 2022 Strasbourg Nicolai Reshetikhin
33rd/35th 2024 Cotonou, Forthcoming

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "The Wigner Medal Bylaws" (PDF). The Group Theory and Fundamental Physics Foundation. Retrieved 2007-08-07.
  2. ^ "The Wigner Medal". The Group Theory and Fundamental Physics Foundation. Retrieved 2007-08-07.
  3. ^ "Wigner Medal Ceremony for Prof. Dr. Yvette Kosmann-Schwarzbach". Institut Henri Poincaré. 2023-10-24. Retrieved 2023-10-22.
  4. ^ "Wigner Medal ceremony for Professor Iwo Bialynicki-Birula". Center for Theoretical Physics, Polish Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 2023-06-30.
  5. ^ "From GHZ to Tic Tac Toe: A Symposium to celebrate Danny Greenberger's 90th birthday". www.iqoqi-vienna.at (in German). Retrieved 2023-10-22.
  6. ^ "International Colloquium on Group Theoretical Methods in Physics | ICGTMP". Retrieved 2023-10-08.
  7. ^ "The Weyl–Wigner Award | International Colloquium on Group Theoretical Methods in Physics". Retrieved 2023-10-08.
  8. ^ "Hermann Weyl Prize". The 34th International Colloquium on Group Theoretical Methods in Physics. Retrieved 2023-10-22.
  9. ^ Wigner Medal Homepage
  10. ^ "Professor Emeritus Alden Mead receives Wigner Medal". University of Minnesota Department of Chemistry. Retrieved 2012-07-16.
  11. ^ "The XXIX International Colloquium on Group-Theoretical Methods in Physics". Chern Institute of Mathematics, Nankai University. Retrieved 2012-07-16.
  12. ^ "Wigner Medal awarded to Professor Joshua Zak". Technion – Israel Institute of Technology – Physics Department. Retrieved 2014-03-18.

External links[edit]