Indian physicist Ashoke Sen has made history in theoretical physics. He is the first Indian to win the Oskar Klein Medal. The Bengaluru-based International Centre for Theoretical Sciences (ICTS) announced the Ashoke Sen Oskar Klein Medal news on Saturday, October 24, 2026.
Stockholm University and the Nobel Committee for Physics of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences award the medal jointly. It recognises outstanding contributions to physics. In addition, it goes with the Oskar Klein Memorial Lecture, which the winner delivers in Stockholm.
The honour has a strong record. Since 1988, it has gone to leading names in the field. For example, Nobel laureates Chen-Ning Yang, Steven Weinberg and Hans Bethe received it in its first three years.
Sen is best known for his work in string theory. He has also made major contributions to the study of black holes and quantum gravity. As a result, he is regarded as one of the leading theoretical physicists in the world today.
His earlier honours are just as notable. He won the Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics in 2012. Then he received the Dirac Medal in 2014. India has also recognised him with the Padma Shri and the Padma Bhushan.
Sen studied at Presidency College and Calcutta University in Kolkata. Today he is the Infosys-Madhava Chair Professor at ICTS in Bengaluru.
Overall, the award brings international recognition to Indian science. Moreover, it shows the impact of Indian researchers on fundamental physics. The Office of the Principal Scientific Adviser to the government has congratulated him.
