The Nobel Prize 2021 for physics was awarded to three scientists from Japan, Germany and Italy. Secretary-general of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, Goran Hansson, announced the winners on October 5, 2021.

Key facts

• Syukuro Manabe and Klaus Hasselmann were awarded for their work in “physical modelling of Earth’s climate, quantifying variability and reliably predicting global warming”.
• Second half of the prize was awarded to Giorgio Parisi for his “discovery of the interplay of disorder and fluctuations in physical systems from atomic to planetary scales.”
• As per Nobel Prize Panel, Syukuro Manabe and Klaus Hasselmann have laid the “foundation of our knowledge of Earth’s climate and how humanity influences it”.

Demonstration by Syukuro Manabe

Since 1960s, he had demonstrated how increases in amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere increases the global temperatures. This demonstration laid the foundations for current climate models.

Demonstration by Klaus Hasselmann

He had created a model to link weather and climate. This model helped in explaining why climate models can be reliable despite the chaotic nature of weather. He also demonstrated ways to look after specific signs of human influence on the climate.