Ashoke Sen, renowned physicist and professor at the Bengaluru-based International Centre for Theoretical Sciences (ICTS), has been awarded the prestigious Oskar Klein Medal, becoming the first Indian physicist to receive the honour.
Sen, an ICTS-Infosys Madhava Chair Professor, is globally recognised for his pioneering work on S-duality, the precise counting of black-hole entropy, and string field theory, which has helped shape modern string theory. Named after Swedish theoretical physicist Oskar Klein, the medal is awarded annually by Stockholm University and the Nobel Committee for Physics of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. Previous recipients include Nobel laureates Chen-Ning Yang, Steven Weinberg, and Hans Bethe, who received the medal in its first three years, respectively.
He received the Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics in 2012 for his contributions to establishing a unifying framework for string theory and the Dirac Medal in 2014. His other honours include the Infosys Prize in Mathematical Sciences (2009), the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize (1994), the ICTP Prize (1989), the Padma Shri (2001), and the Padma Bhushan (2013). He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1998. Established in 1988, the award recognises distinguished contributions to physics.
Sen delivered the 2026 Oskar Klein Memorial Lecture, titled “Gravity from Strings and Strings from Gravity”, at Stockholm University’s AlbaNova Centre on October 22, 2026. Congratulating Sen, ICTS Director Rajesh Gopakumar said, “It has been no less than wonderful having Ashoke with us and setting the tone for excellence here at ICTS.
