Nobel Prize 2019: Make your bet!

 

 

Nobel Prize for Physics timeline: The thickness of the coloured line denotes how many laureates shared the prize in that year. In years when the prize was split between two disciplines – in 1970, for example – two lines are used, with each denoting the number of laureates in that discipline. 

©Institute Of Physics Publishing

The above infographic illustrates the subject areas of all the physics Nobel prizes since 1901. If you look at each subject area, it appears that subsequent prizes are separated by gaps of about 5-10 years.
If we had looked at the infographic this time last year, we would have been struck by the fact that there had not been a prize for atomic, molecular and optical physics in over ten years – so one should be due. Sure enough, the 2018 prize went to Arthur Ashkin, Gérard Mourou and Donna Strickland for their “ground-breaking inventions in the field of laser physics”.
On that basis the official Physics World prediction is that this year’s prize will be awarded for work done in the foundations of quantum physics, a topic that has not garnered a prize since 2012. But who will be making the trip to Stockholm in December?
Our top pick is a prize shared by Alain Aspect, John Clauser and Anton Zeilinger for their work on testing Bell’s inequalities...
Our second pick is a quantum-information prize to Peter Shor, Gilles Brassard and Charles Bennett. Brassard and Bennett could share half the prize for developing quantum cryptography, while Shor would get the other half for creating his eponymous factoring algorithm for quantum computing.
Another possibility is a prize to Peter Zoller and Ignacio Cirac for their contributions to the development of schemes for processing quantum information...

Beyond quantum information, another longstanding prediction of mine is a prize to Lene Hau for her work on using ultracold gases to slowdown and even stop light. This is something that has already been useful for transferring quantum information

"Our (pseudo)scientific picks for nextweek’s Nobel prize" 02 Oct 2019

Hamish Johnston (general-physics editor of Physics World)

Below is a short video interview of Lene Vestergaard Hau who describes in simple words how she managed with her team of researchers and PhD students to stop light using cold atoms and lasers in her Harvard lab:

Another interesting take on who could win the 2019 Nobel Prize in Physics :
https://www.forbes.com/sites/chadorzel/2019/10/02/what-will-win-the-2019-nobel-prize-in-physics/#144214f62892