David Gross

Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics, UC Santa Barbara

David Jonathan Gross is an American theoretical physicist and director of the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics at UC Santa Barbara. He is best known for discovering asymptotic freedom in quantum chromodynamics (QCD) — the theory of the strong nuclear force — together with Frank Wilczek, while Gross was at Princeton. Asymptotic freedom shows that the coupling constant of QCD decreases at high energies, meaning quarks interact almost freely at short distances while being permanently confined at long distances. This discovery provided the theoretical underpinning of QCD as the correct theory of the strong force and is fundamental to particle physics. Gross shared the 2004 Nobel Prize in Physics with Wilczek and David Politzer. His subsequent work has encompassed string theory, the heterotic string, and the nature of quantum gravity. He remains one of the most influential voices in theoretical high-energy physics and contributes to long-range planning for particle physics facilities worldwide.