Martinus J.G. Veltman
Born: 27 June 1931, Waalwijk, the Netherlands
Prize motivation: "for elucidating the quantum structure of electroweak interactions in physics"
Field: particle physics
Prize share: 1/2
According to modern physics, there are four fundamental forces in nature. Electromagnetic interaction is one of these. The weak interaction, responsible for e.g. the beta-decay of nuclei is another. In the 1960s a unified theory for these two forces, the electroweak interaction, was formulated. However certain problems remained and had to be solved. Martinus Veltman and Gerardus t'Hooft formulated in the beginning of the 1970s, a mathematical theory that advanced the description of the electroweak interaction.