Indian Physicist Deepak Dhar Wins the 2026 Dirac Medal

13 August 2026National

Padma Bhushan awardee and theoretical physicist Professor Deepak Dhar was awarded the 2026 Dirac Medal by the International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) for outstanding contributions to statistical mechanics, becoming the first Indian physicist to receive it. He shared the award with Bernard Derrida (France), Marc Mezard (Italy) and Haim Sompolinsky (Israel/USA). Dhar is a professor at ICTS-TIFR, Bengaluru, and is renowned for the sandpile model and Dhar's Burning Algorithm. In 2022 he became the first Indian to win the Boltzmann Medal.

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ICTP Dirac Medal is awarded annually on 8 August (Paul Dirac's birthday) | ICTP HQ: Trieste, Italy | Deepak Dhar was first Indian to win the Boltzmann Medal (2022) | He works at ICTS-TIFR, Bengaluru

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Padma Bhushan physicist Deepak Dhar became the first Indian to win the ICTP Dirac Medal (2026) for his work in statistical mechanics, including the sandpile model.

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