Five EU-backed researchers win the 2026 Wolf Prize
Every year since 1978, the Wolf Prize has been awarded to artists and scientists globally whose outstanding achievements have contributed to a better world. This year, the Wolf Foundation recognised eight scientists, five of whom received support from the European Research Council (ERC) for their work in the fields of physics, chemistry and mathematics. The prize in each field consists of a diploma, a medal of honour and a monetary award of USD 100 000 (approximately EUR 142 000).
Breakthroughs in chemistry and physics
The Wolf Prize in Physics went to ERC grantee Immanuel Bloch(opens in new window) from the Max Planck Institute in Germany “[f]or transformative, widely applicable advances in the control of ultracold atomic systems.” Bloch pioneered the use of ultracold atoms as a robust tool for simulating and investigating complex quantum systems, thereby helping to cement quantum simulation as a cornerstone of modern physics. For his work, he received ERC support through the UQUAM (Ultracold Quantum Matter)(opens in new window) project. He shares the award with Jun Ye from the University of Colorado, United States. Shankar Balasubramanian(opens in new window) and David Klenerman(opens in new window) from the University of Cambridge, United Kingdom, won the Wolf Prize in Chemistry “[f]or developing impactful, low-cost, large-scale DNA sequencing methods for genomic medicine.” Balasubramanian is known for his groundbreaking contributions to next-generation sequencing technology, a chemical innovation that has revolutionised the fields of biology and medicine. The professor received ERC support for his research through the RNAQUAD (The chemical biology of RNA G-quadruplexes) project. Klenerman established the critical physico-chemical foundation necessary for real-time observation of DNA synthesis. His mastery of single-molecule imaging and DNA polymerase dynamics was pivotal in converting fundamental biochemical insights into a scalable, high-throughput sequencing platform. He received ERC funding for his work through the Oligomers (Characterising protein oligomers and their role in neurodegenerative disease in humans) project. The two chemistry laureates share their prize with Pascal Mayer of the University of Strasbourg, France.
Advancements in mathematics
This year’s Wolf Prize in Mathematics went to ERC grantees David Kazhdan(opens in new window) from Tel Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel, and Joseph Bernstein(opens in new window) from Tel Aviv University, Israel. The two scientists were recognised for their “foundational work on representation theory, automorphic forms and algebraic geometry, and their role in creating geometric representation theory.” Kazhdan’s work focuses on the Langlands programme, a framework of conjectures bridging diverse mathematical fields such as representation theory, number theory, geometry and harmonic analysis. He has been supported by two ERC grants through the now-ended GLC (Langlands correspondence and its variants) and HAS (Harmonic Analysis and l-adic sheaves) projects, and the ongoing Correspondence (The Langlands Correspondence) project. Bernstein pioneered novel mathematical methods to deepen the understanding of structures in representation theory and number theory. His work was supported through the STACKSRTFPERIODS (Stacks in Representation Theory, Relative Trace Formula and analysis of Automorphic Periods) project. These five laureates join a long list of ERC grantees(opens in new window) who have been honoured with the Wolf Prize for their outstanding work in the fields of mathematics, chemistry, physics and agriculture. This recognition not only celebrates past achievements but also underscores the critical importance of maintaining robust support for fundamental research as the engine of future progress. For more information, please see: GLC project HAS project Correspondence project STACKSRTFPERIODS project Oligomers project RNAQUAD project UQUAM project website(opens in new window)
