Aron Wall, who received his UMD Ph.D. in 2011, has been awarded the 2019 Breakthrough New Horizons in Physics Prize for fundamental insights about quantum information, quantum field theory and gravity. The $100,000 prize is given each year to up to three “promising junior researchers who have already produced important work.” In addition to the Breakthrough Prize, Wall has also recently received the Philippe Meyer Prize in Theoretical Physics and the Young Scientist Prize for the International Commission on General Relativity & Gravitation.

Wall’s UMD dissertation was awarded the Bergmann-Wheeler Thesis Prize, given every three years by the International Society on General Relativity and Gravitation. Distinguished University Professor Ted Jacobson was Wall’s advisor.

After completing his doctorate, Wall held positions at the University of California at Santa Barbara, the Institute for Advanced Study and the Stanford Institute for Theoretical Physics. In January, he will join the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics at the University of Cambridge.