{"id":7895,"date":"2026-09-29T19:35:54","date_gmt":"2026-09-29T23:35:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/steve.cooleysekula.net\/blog\/?p=7895"},"modified":"2026-09-29T19:35:57","modified_gmt":"2026-09-29T23:35:57","slug":"fediversing-the-2026-physics-nobel-prize","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/steve.cooleysekula.net\/blog\/2026\/09\/29\/fediversing-the-2026-physics-nobel-prize\/","title":{"rendered":"Fediversing the 2026 Physics Nobel Prize"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Last year, I turned the awesome power of the open federated social web, or fediverse<\/em>, onto the question of the subject of the Nobel Prize in Physics. I did it with a poorly constructed poll, which predicted that the winning category would be in the subject area of Atomic, Molecular, and\/or Optical Physics; a close second in the vote was Astrophysics\/Cosmology. And the real winner? “For the discovery of macroscopic quantum mechanical tunnelling and energy quantisation in an electric circuit.<\/em>” I guess if you squint hard enough, that looks like atomic physics … but one is probably in need of spectacles at that point.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So I thought I would again turn the awesome power of the fediverse onto the question: what will be the subject area of the 2026 Nobel Prize in Physics?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

This year’s announcement is just a week away, not earlier than 11:45 CEST on Tuesday, October 6. 1<\/a><\/sup>https:\/\/www.nobelprize.org\/prizes\/about\/prize-announcement-dates\/<\/a><\/span> I plan to wake up early and live blog again, as I did last year. Meanwhile, let’s look at what the fediverse has to say.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My poll last year was much as my poll this year: same broad categories and same poor construction. I asked fedizens to vote on the question of whether the prize would be in<\/p>\n\n\n\n