Sompolinsky Awarded 2026 ICTP Dirac Medal

Haim Sompolinsky is one of four physicists who have been awarded the 2026 Dirac Medal by the Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) “for their pioneering contributions to equilibrium statistical mechanics and for extending its concepts and methods into non-equilibrium statistical mechanics, optimization problems, theoretical neuroscience, and, finally, artificial intelligence.” His co-recipients are Bernard Derrida of the Collège de France, Deepak Dhar of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (India), and Marc Mézard of Bocconi University (Italy). citation reads:

Sompolinsky is Professor of Molecular and Cellular Biology and of Physics in Residence at Harvard University, and Professor Emeritus at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem’s Edmond and Lily Safra Center for Brain Sciences and the Racah Institute of Physics. Over a career at the intersection of physics, neuroscience, and computer science, he has been a central figure in bringing tools from statistical physics to the study of neuronal circuits, memory, learning, and information processing in the brain. He is widely regarded as one of the leaders of theoretical neuroscience.

The ICTP Dirac Medal, established in 1985 in honor of Nobel laureate Paul A.M. Dirac, is among the world's most distinguished awards in theoretical physics. It recognizes scientists whose groundbreaking work has fundamentally advanced the field. Previous ICTP Dirac Medal recipients from Harvard Department of Physics are Sidney Coleman (1990), Howard Georgi (2000), Cumrun Vafa (2008), Andrew Strominger (2014), and Subir Sachdev (2018).