CNS Physicist John F. Donoghue Wins J.J. Sakurai Prize for Work on Theoretical Particle Physics
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John F. Donoghue, a pathbreaking College of Natural Sciences physicist—who first came to UMass Amherst in 1972 to receive his PhD in physics and taught here for the entirety of his career—has just been awarded the American Physical Society’s 2026 J.J. Sakurai Prize for Theoretical Particle Physics, among the most prestigious awards in the field.
“I’ve been here almost forever,” says Donoghue, who points to his department’s consistent track record of excellence as the factor that encouraged him to spend his adult life at UMass Amherst. “I began with quark physics, and I’m now working on quantum gravity, but the work I’m being recognized for is the work that I’m the most proud of.”
Donoghue’s citation notes his “original and lasting contributions to the development of effective field theories, including work on gravity as an effective quantum field theory, and important contributions to chiral perturbation theory.”
Donoghue says “there are still exciting developments in quantum theory, and effective field theory is a recent example. With my collaborators and students, we were well poised to make real contributions to its understanding. And it turned out to be key in connection to Einstein’s theory of general relativity. For decades physicists thought that quantum mechanics and general relativity were incompatible. Using the new effective field theory techniques, I was able to demonstrate that quantum physics and general relativity work naturally well together at present energies, resolving this disagreement.”
Andrea Pocar, head of UMass Amherst’s physics department, says that “going through the list of Sakurai prize winners is a trip through the textbook history of the field,” and notes that Donoghue’s prize is “at once, a testament to the caliber of his research and a recognition of the excellence of theoretical particle and nuclear physics at UMass Amherst. This prize continues a bright departmental tradition of APS awards in this field, with two current members of the physics faculty recognized with the Hermann Feshbach prize for Theoretical Nuclear Physics: Barry Holstein in 2019 (John Donoghue’s doctoral advisor!) and Michael Ramsey-Musolf in 2023.”
When he looks to the future of physics, Donoghue sees much that excites him: quantum physics has had a resurgence as “quantum information,” and his experimental colleagues are pushing the research boundaries in many different, pioneering directions.
Pocar notes that not only is Donoghue a prolific researcher, but also “a distinguished teacher. He taught generations of students who went on to excellent careers in science. He co-authored, with Holstein and his late UMass Amherst colleague Gene Golowich (a trio known as DGH in the physics circles), a textbook called Dynamics of the Standard Model, which has become a classic reference for graduate courses and a reference for theoretical and experimental researchers in the field. It is a delight to see ‘retired’ John continue to do physics with great enthusiasm, attacking quantum gravity (one of the big scientific questions of today) and serving as a beacon for our junior colleagues and students.”
This story was originally published by the UMass News Office.