South Korea's Ministry of Science and ICT and the Asia Pacific Center for Theoretical Physics (APCTP) said on Oct. 19 they selected Christopher Jarzynski (크리스토퍼 자진스키), a chair professor at the University of Maryland, as the recipient of the 2026 Lee Hwi-so Award.

The Lee Hwi-so Award is an academic prize jointly established in 2012 by APCTP and the Korean Physical Society to honor the achievements of the late physicist Lee Hwi-so. An awards ceremony and a keynote lecture by the winner are held each year at the Korean Physical Society's autumn meeting.

Jarzynski is a leading authority in statistical physics and nonequilibrium thermodynamics. He won the 2019 Lars Onsager Prize for deriving the Jarzynski equality, which enables calculation of free-energy differences in nonequilibrium states, contributing to advances in statistical mechanics.

The Jarzynski equality is regarded as providing a theoretical basis for obtaining free-energy differences even in processes that are not in thermodynamic equilibrium. Jarzynski also contributed to identifying thermodynamic properties of the microscopic world, including nano, biological and quantum systems, through research on fluctuation theorems and stochastic thermodynamics.

APCTP will invite Jarzynski, this year's award recipient, to hold special lectures on nonequilibrium statistical physics at Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH) from Oct. 19 to 20. On Oct. 19, he will lecture on "Nonequilibrium statistical physics, generative AI, and free-energy estimation."

He will then deliver a keynote lecture titled "Extending the laws of thermodynamics to the microscopic world" at the Korean Physical Society's autumn meeting on Oct. 21 at the Jeju International Convention Center.

Yoon Kyung-sook (윤경숙), director general for Basic and Fundamental Research Policy at the science ministry, said, "We expect this event, held on the great legacy of the late Dr. Lee Hwi-so, will inspire young scientists' intellectual curiosity that will drive the future of Korea's basic science and present a new vision for research."