Ashoke Sen becomes first Indian to receive Oskar Klein medal for theoretical physics

Key facts

• Noted string theorist Ashoke Sen, a professor at the Bengaluru-based International Centre for Theoretical Sciences (ICTS), has been awarded the prestigious Oskar Klein medal, one of the highest honours in theoretical physics.
• Sen is the first Indian to win the Oskar Klein medal, which has been awarded every year since 1988 by Stockholm University and the Nobel Committee for Physics of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.
• Sen, an ICTS-Infosys Madhava Chair Professor known for his work on string theory, has earlier won the Dirac medal and the Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics, and is recognized for his pioneering work on S-duality, precision counting of black hole entropy and string field theory.
• As part of the award, Sen delivered a lecture titled 'Gravity from Strings and Strings from Gravity' at Stockholm University.
• Theoretical physicist Deepak Dhar was earlier named winner of the Dirac medal, making him the second Indian after Sen to win it, and he is the only Indian to have won both the Dirac Medal and the Boltzmann Medal.
• Last year, Indian-origin American physicist Jainendra Jain, associated with multiple institutions in India, was named one of the winners of the Wolf Prize.