New Delhi, Oct. 28 -- Ashoke Sen, a Kolkata-born theoretical physicist, is the first Indian to win the prestigious Oskar Klein Medal in 2026. The medal, named after the Swedish theoretical physicist Oskar Klein, is awarded annually by Stockholm University and the Nobel Committee for Physics of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. Established in 1988, it recognises distinguished contributions to physics. Previous recipients include Nobel laureates Chen-Ning Yang, Steven Weinberg and Hans Bethe, who received the medal in its first three years, respectively. The 2026 Oskar Klein Memorial Lecture, titled 'Gravity from Strings and Strings from Gravity,' was delivered by Prof Sen at Stockholm University's AlbaNova Centre on October 22, 2026. Born in Kolkata in 1956, Sen is the elder son of Anil Kumar Sen, a former professor of physics at Scottish Church College, Kolkata, and Gouri Sen, a homemaker. A Padma Shri awardee, he is internationally renowned for his contributions to string theory and was awarded the Dirac Medal in 2014. Currently, he holds the ICTS-Infosys Madhava Chair Professorship. Sen has acknowledged the profound influence of Indian physicist Amal Kumar Raychaudhuri's work and teaching on his intellectual journey.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.