Prize Recipient

David Elazzar Kaplan
Johns Hopkins University

"For his extraordinarily innovative and effective efforts in public outreach, and in particular for his production of the documentary film, Particle Fever, that allows nonscientists to experience the scientific world and discoveries as they really are."

David Kaplan received his degree from University of California, Berkeley in 1991 and his Ph.D. at the University of Washington in 1999. He is currently a professor of particle physics at Johns Hopkins University. He is a leader in developing theoretical physics beyond the standard model, including theories to explain the Higgs boson, dark matter, and the cosmological constant. He also leads the effort to finding ways of testing such theories in novel experimental methods. Kaplan has had a significant impact in bringing science to the public, mainly as creator and producer of Particle Fever, the 2014 documentary about the Large Hadron Collider, for which he has won numerous awards, including Columbia University`s duPont Award for Excellence in Journalism and the Communications Award from the National Academy of Sciences. He has also hosted science programs on the History and National Geographic channels. He is an APS fellow, a Sloan fellow, and a Kavli fellow.

E. Dan Dahlberg, Chair; Yvan Bruynseraede; Diandra Leslie-Pelecky; Ivan Schuller