The Nobel Prize in Physics 2008

Yoichiro Nambu

Photo: University of Chicago

Prize share: 1/2

Makoto Kobayashi

© The Nobel Foundation Photo: U. Montan

Prize share: 1/4

Toshihide Maskawa

© The Nobel Foundation Photo: U. Montan

Prize share: 1/4

The Nobel Prize in Physics 2008 was divided, one half awarded to Yoichiro Nambu "for the discovery of the mechanism of spontaneous broken symmetry in subatomic physics", the other half jointly to Makoto Kobayashi and Toshihide Maskawa "for the discovery of the origin of the broken symmetry which predicts the existence of at least three families of quarks in nature"

To cite this section
MLA style: The Nobel Prize in Physics 2008. NobelPrize.org. Nobel Prize Outreach AB 2023. Tue. 5 Dec 2023. <https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/2008/summary/>

Back to top Back To Top Takes users back to the top of the page

Streams during Nobel Week

Coming up

Watch the 2023 Nobel Prize lectures, the Nobel Prize Concert, Nobel Week Dialogue, the prize award ceremonies in Oslo and Stockholm and Nobel Peace Prize Forum here at nobelprize.org.
Watch lectures and award ceremonies

Explore prizes and laureates

Look for popular awards and laureates in different fields, and discover the history of the Nobel Prize.