Professor Jesse Thaler Honored With 2026 Humboldt Research Award
MIT Physicist and IAIFI Director Recognized for Career Academic Record; Invited to Research in Germany
CAMBRIDGE, MA — The Alexander von Humboldt Foundation has conferred a Humboldt Research Award upon Jesse Thaler, Professor of Physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Professor Thaler was nominated for the award by Professor Tilman Plehn of Heidelberg University in recognition of his extensive academic record and fundamental contributions to theoretical particle physics.
International Recognition of Research Excellence
The Humboldt Research Award honors internationally recognized scientists whose discoveries, theories, or insights have had a significant impact on their discipline and who are expected to continue producing cutting-edge achievements. The award includes personal prize money of EUR 80,000 and an invitation to carry out research projects of the winner’s choice in cooperation with specialist colleagues in Germany. The Alexander von Humboldt Foundation has maintained this program since 1972, fostering a global network that includes numerous Nobel laureates.
“I’m honored to join the Humboldt network and excited to continue my collaboration with the team at Heidelberg,” says Thaler. “We share an enthusiasm for ‘centaur science,’ where we combine physics principles with AI technologies to deepen our understanding of the universe.” Thaler and Plehn previously collaborated on a project to embed space-time symmetries into neural networks, and they have an aspirational goal of building a foundation model for particle physics that incorporates high-precision theoretical calculations.
Research Focus and Professional Affiliations
Professor Thaler is a theoretical particle physicist who fuses techniques from quantum field theory and machine learning to address outstanding questions in fundamental physics. His research centers on maximizing the discovery potential of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) through the development of new theoretical frameworks and novel data analysis techniques. He is a recognized expert in the physics of jets—collimated sprays of particles produced in high-energy collisions—and studies jet substructure to enhance the search for new phenomena and illuminate the dynamics of gauge theories.
At MIT, Professor Thaler is a Professor of Physics in the MIT Center for Theoretical Physics — a Leinweber Institute (CTP-LI) and a member of the Laboratory for Nuclear Science. He is also the inaugural Director of the NSF Institute for Artificial Intelligence and Fundamental Interactions (IAIFI), an institute dedicated to advancing physics knowledge while pushing the frontiers of machine learning.
Background
Professor Thaler joined the MIT Physics faculty in 2010. He earned his Ph.D. in Physics from Harvard University in 2006 and his Sc.B. in Math/Physics from Brown University in 2002. Prior to his tenure at MIT, he served as a fellow at the Miller Institute for Basic Research in Science at the University of California, Berkeley, from 2006 to 2009.
