Emirati Physicist Ahmed Almheiri Wins Coveted New Horizons In Physics Prize

His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, has congratulated Emirati physicist Dr. Ahmed Almheiri for winning the 2021 New Horizons in Physics Prize for his research on black holes in the space.

His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid tweeted from his Twitter account, “We congratulate one of the UAE’s sons, Dr. Ahmed Almheiri, on winning the coveted New Horizons Prize for his research on black holes in the space. Ahmed is currently doing his post-doctoral studies in physics at the Institute for Advanced Studies, IAS, at Princeton University. An Emirati physicist who is a source of pride for the whole Arab world.”

Along with the tweet, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed posted a photo of him with Dr. Ahmed Almheiri in January 2019, when he honoured him as the first Emirati to be accepted for post-doctoral studies at Princeton University’s Institute for Advanced Study, for earning a PhD. in physics from the University of California and for winning the best thesis from the same university on ground-breaking achievements in the Life Sciences, Fundamental Physics and Mathematics.

Also posted on his official Twitter account is a photo of Dr. Almheiri while working on his research at the university.

The Breakthrough Prize Foundation, also known as the “Oscar of Science” announced the esteemed recipients of the 2021 Breakthrough Prize, for achievements in Life Sciences, Fundamental Physics and Mathematics, including Dr. Ahmed Almheiri and his team of four scientists for calculating the quantum information content of a black hole and its radiation. The other team members are, Netta Engelhardt, from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Henry Maxfield, from University of California, Santa Barbara, and Geoff Penington, from the University of California, Berkeley.

The Breakthrough Prizes were founded by Sergey Brin, Priscilla Chan and Mark Zuckerberg, Yuri and Julia Milner, and Anne Wojcicki. The prizes have been sponsored by the personal foundations established by Brin, Chan and Zuckerberg, Huateng, Jack Ma, Yuri the Milners and Wojcicki.

Each prize is US$3 million and presented in the fields of Life Sciences (up to four per year), Fundamental Physics (one per year) and Mathematics (one per year). In addition, up to three New Horizons in Physics Prizes, up to three New Horizons in Mathematics Prizes and up to three Maryam Mirzakhani New Frontiers Prizes are given out to early-career researchers each year.

Dr. Almheiri was born in 1986. He is the first Emirati to become a Post-doctoral Scholar at the Institute for Advanced Study of Princeton University, in which the world’s most famous physicist Albert Einstein, spent his last 20 years.

Almheiri received his PhD. in physics from the University of California and his B.Sc./B.A. from the University of Toronto. He is dedicated to understanding the connections between quantum information theory, quantum field theory, and quantum gravity and his research was cited by more than 1,500 fellow scientists from different parts of the world.