# Nobel Prize in Physics laureates of the 1980s

Every Nobel Prize in Physics laureate between 1980 and 1989, with the year and the Nobel Foundation's official citation. Which discovery do you think mattered most?

- 31 votes · 22 items
- Nov 25, 2019 · Neha P.
- https://even.best/en/l/1214/nobel-prize-in-physics-laureates-of-the-1980s

## Top 22

1. **Val Logsdon Fitch** (3 · ▲3 ▼0) — 1980. For the discovery of violations of fundamental symmetry principles in the decay of neutral K-mesons.
2. **Kenneth G. Wilson** (3 · ▲3 ▼0) — 1982. For his theory for critical phenomena in connection with phase transitions.
3. **Nicolaas Bloembergen** (2 · ▲3 ▼1) — 1981. For their contribution to the development of laser spectroscopy.
4. **Simon van der Meer** (2 · ▲2 ▼0) — 1984. For their decisive contributions to the large project, which led to the discovery of the field particles W and Z, communicators of weak interaction.
5. **K. Alexander Müller** (2 · ▲2 ▼0) — 1987. For their important break-through in the discovery of superconductivity in ceramic materials.
6. **Norman F. Ramsey** (2 · ▲2 ▼0) — 1989. For the invention of the separated oscillatory fields method and its use in the hydrogen maser and other atomic clocks.
7. **James Watson Cronin** (1 · ▲2 ▼1) — 1980. For the discovery of violations of fundamental symmetry principles in the decay of neutral K-mesons.
8. **Arthur Leonard Schawlow** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — 1981. For their contribution to the development of laser spectroscopy.
9. **Kai M. Siegbahn** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — 1981. For his contribution to the development of high-resolution electron spectroscopy.
10. **William Alfred Fowler** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — 1983. For his theoretical and experimental studies of the nuclear reactions of importance in the formation of the chemical elements in the universe.
11. **Klaus von Klitzing** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — 1985. For the discovery of the quantized Hall effect.
12. **Ernst Ruska** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — 1986. For his fundamental work in electron optics, and for the design of the first electron microscope.
13. **J. Georg Bednorz** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — 1987. For their important break-through in the discovery of superconductivity in ceramic materials.
14. **Leon M. Lederman** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — 1988. For the neutrino beam method and the demonstration of the doublet structure of the leptons through the discovery of the muon neutrino.
15. **Jack Steinberger** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — 1988. For the neutrino beam method and the demonstration of the doublet structure of the leptons through the discovery of the muon neutrino.
16. **Hans G. Dehmelt** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — 1989. For the development of the ion trap technique.
17. **Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — 1983. For his theoretical studies of the physical processes of importance to the structure and evolution of the stars.
18. **Gerd Binnig** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — 1986. For their design of the scanning tunneling microscope.
19. **Heinrich Rohrer** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — 1986. For their design of the scanning tunneling microscope.
20. **Wolfgang Paul** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — 1989. For the development of the ion trap technique.
21. **Melvin Schwartz** (-1 · ▲0 ▼1) — 1988. For the neutrino beam method and the demonstration of the doublet structure of the leptons through the discovery of the muon neutrino.
22. **Carlo Rubbia** (-2 · ▲0 ▼2) — 1984. For their decisive contributions to the large project, which led to the discovery of the field particles W and Z, communicators of weak interaction.

How is this ranking ordered? By people's votes: each ▲ adds a point and each ▼ takes one away. Anyone can vote and add what is missing.