ORANGE, Calif., Sept. 30, 2009 -- Chapman physicist Yakir Aharonov, Ph.D., James J. Farley Professor of Natural Philosophy, has received the coveted “Citation Laureate” title from the worldwide news organization Thomson Reuters. According to Thomson Reuters, Citation Laureates are researchers they select as most likely to receive a Nobel Prize in the coming years. Thomson Reuters is the only organization to use quantitative data to make annual predictions of Nobel Prize winners, and their careful analysis is reflected in their huge success rate, having correctly predicted 15 Nobel Prize winners since 2002.

Dr. Aharonov is widely regarded as the world’s leading authority on quantum mechanics. One of his many discoveries is the celebrated Aharonov-Bohm Effect, one of the foundations of modern physics, celebrating its 50th anniversary this year.

Thomson Reuters takes care to emphasize that their predictions apply not just to the possibility of a candidate receiving the Nobel Prize in a single year, but rather to a number of subsequent years.

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