Nobel Prize in Physics awarded for discoveries in climate, complex physical systems

US-Japanese scientist Syukuro Manabe, Klaus Hasselmann of Germany and Giorgio Parisi of Italy won the Nobel Physics Prize for climate models and the understanding of physical systems. Pic/AFP

Three scientists from US, Germany, and Italy were on Tuesday awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics 2021 for their contributions in discovering climate and complex physical systems.

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences awarded the Physics Nobel to Syukuro Manabe, Klaus Hasselmann, and Giorgio Parisi "for groundbreaking contributions to our understanding of complex physical systems", said a statement.

Manabe from Princeton University, US and Hasselmann from Max Planck Institute for Meteorology, Hamburg, Germany were jointly awarded "for the physical modelling of Earth's climate, quantifying variability and reliably predicting global warming".

Parisi from Sapienza University of Rome, was awarded the other half "for the discovery of the interplay of disorder and fluctuations in physical systems from atomic to planetary scales".

Manabe and Hasselmann laid the foundation of our knowledge of the Earth's climate and how humanity influences it, while Parisi got rewarded for his revolutionary contributions to the theory of disordered materials and random processes.

"Three Laureates share this year's Nobel Prize in Physics for their studies of chaotic and apparently random phenomena. Complex systems are characterised by randomness and disorder and are difficult to understand. This year's Prize recognises new methods for describing them and predicting their long-term behaviour," said the statement from the Academy.

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Manabe demonstrated how increased levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere lead to increased temperatures at the surface of the Earth. In the 1960s, he led the development of physical models of the Earth's climate and was the first person to explore the interaction between radiation balance and the vertical transport of air masses. His work laid the foundation for the development of current climate models.

About ten years later, Hasselmann created a model that links together weather and climate, thus answering the question of why climate models can be reliable despite weather being changeable and chaotic. He also developed methods for identifying specific signals, or 'fingerprints', that both natural phenomena and human activities imprint in the climate. His methods have been used to prove that the increased temperature in the atmosphere is due to human emissions of carbon dioxide.

Around 1980, Parisi discovered hidden patterns in disordered complex materials. His discoveries are among the most important contributions to the theory of complex systems. They make it possible to understand and describe many different and apparently entirely random materials and phenomena, not only in physics but also in other, very different areas, such as mathematics, biology, neuroscience and machine learning.

"The discoveries being recognised this year demonstrate that our knowledge about the climate rests on a solid scientific foundation, based on a rigorous analysis of observations. This year's Laureates have all contributed to us gaining deeper insight into the properties and evolution of complex physical systems," said Thors Hans Hansson, chair of the Nobel Committee for Physics, in the statement.

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