Brief by Shorts91 Newsdesk / 08:34am on 11 Aug 2026,Tuesday India
Indian physicist Deepak Dhar has been named a winner of the 2026 Dirac Medal for his major contributions to statistical mechanics. Dhar, 75, shares the prestigious award with Bernard Derrida, Marc Mézard and Haim Sompolinsky. His research on the mathematical “sandpile model” has helped scientists understand unpredictable behaviour in systems such as earthquakes, avalanches and traffic jams. Dhar is an INSA Distinguished Professor at the International Centre for Theoretical Sciences, TIFR, in Bengaluru. A graduate of Allahabad University and IIT Kanpur, he earned his PhD from Caltech before returning to India. He received the Padma Bhushan in 2023. (PC: The Print)
