The Wolf Foundation announced the 2026 Wolf Prize Laureates on Thursday, recognizing scientists from around the world who made breakthroughs in medicine, physics, chemistry, and mathematics.
President Isaac Herzog and Acting Chair of the Wolf Foundation Council, Prof. Osnat Luxenburg, announced the eight Wolf Prize winners at the President's Residence in Jerusalem.
The Wolf Prize in Medicine was awarded to Columbia University’s Prof. Charles S. Zuker for his research on the cells that allow humans to taste different flavors.
Zuker’s experiments uncovered that taste perception is determined through neural pathways connected to receptors on the tongue.
The Wolf Prize in Physics was awarded jointly to German physicist Prof. Immanuel Bloch and Chinese-born physicist Prof. Jun Ye for their work in the field of quantum physics.
Ye led the development of the world’s most stable and accurate atomic clocks, allowing scientists to measure time with unprecedented precision.
Bloch helped to establish quantum simulation as a major field of modern physics by transforming ultracold atoms into a powerful platform for simulating and investigating complex quantum systems.
Joint awards for Wolf Prizes in mathematics, physics
The Wolf Prize in Mathematics was awarded jointly to Israeli mathematicians Prof. David Kazhdan of Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Prof. Joseph Bernstein of Tel Aviv University "for foundational work on representation theory, automorphic forms and algebraic geometry, and their role in creating geometric representation theory."
The Wolf Prize in Physics was awarded jointly to German physicist Prof. Immanuel Bloch and Chinese-born physicist Prof. Jun Ye for their work in the field of quantum physics.