# Einstein Prize (APS)

Since 2003, the Einstein Prize is a biennial prize awarded by the American Physical Society. The recipients are chosen for their outstanding accomplishments in the field of gravitational physics. The prize is named after Albert Einstein (1879–1955), who authored the of special and general theories of relativity. The prize was established by the Topical Group on Gravitation at the beginning of 1999. As of 2013, the prize is valued at $10,000. The 2005 prize for Bryce DeWitt was announced shortly before his death, and awarded posthumously.

## Recipients

| Year | Recipient(s) | Citation | Ref |
| 2003 | John A. Wheeler | For pioneering investigations in general relativity, including gravitational radiation, quantum gravity, black holes, space time singularities, and symmetries in Einstein's equations, and for leadership and inspiration to generations of researchers in general relativity. | [3] [4] |
| 2003 | Peter G. Bergmann | For pioneering investigations in general relativity, including gravitational radiation, quantum gravity, black holes, space time singularities, and symmetries in Einstein's equations, and for leadership and inspiration to generations of researchers in general relativity. | [3] [4] |
| 2005 | Bryce DeWitt | For a broad range of original contributions to gravitational physics, especially in quantum gravity, gauge field theories, radiation reaction in curved spacetime, and numerical relativity; and for inspiring a generation of students. | |
| 2007 | Rainer Weiss | For fundamental contributions to the development of gravitational wave detectors based on optical interferometry, leading to the successful operation of the Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory. | [6] [7] |
| 2007 | Ronald Drever | For fundamental contributions to the development of gravitational wave detectors based on optical interferometry, leading to the successful operation of the Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory. | [6] [7] |
| 2009 | James Hartle | For a broad range of fundamental contributions to relativistic stars, quantum fields in curved spacetime, and especially quantum cosmology. | |
| 2011 | Ezra Ted Newman | For outstanding contributions to theoretical relativity, including the Newman–Penrose formalism, Kerr–Newman solution, Heaven, and null foliation theory. For his intellectual passion, generosity and honesty, which have inspired and represented a model for generations of relativists. | |
| 2013 | Irwin I. Shapiro | For his contributions to experimental Solar System tests of relativistic theories of gravity, and in particular for proposing and measuring the Shapiro time delay effect. | |
| 2015 | Jacob Bekenstein | For his ground-breaking work on black hole entropy, which launched the field of black hole thermodynamics and transformed the long effort to unify quantum mechanics and gravitation. | |
| 2017 | Robert M. Wald | For fundamental contributions to classical and semiclassical gravity studies, in particular, the discovery of the general formula for black hole entropy, and for developing a rigorous formulation of quantum field theory in curved spacetime. | |
| 2019 | Abhay Ashtekar | For numerous and seminal contributions to general relativity, including the theory of black holes, canonical quantum gravity, and quantum cosmology. | |
| 2021 | Clifford Martin Will | For outstanding contributions to observational tests of general relativity with theories of gravitational waves, astrophysical black holes, and neutron stars. | [14] [15] |
| 2021 | Saul Teukolsky | For outstanding contributions to observational tests of general relativity with theories of gravitational waves, astrophysical black holes, and neutron stars. | [14] [15] |
| 2023 | Gary T. Horowitz | For fundamental contributions to classical gravity and gravitational aspects of string theory. | |