Scientists Who Uncovered Altermagnetism Win Major Physics Honor

Physicists Jairo Sinova, Libor Šmejkal, and Tomas Jungwirth won the 2026 Europhysics Prize for establishing altermagnetism as a new fundamental magnetic order.

The European Physical Society’s Condensed Matter Division recognized altermagnetism as a third class of collinear magnetism, beyond ferromagnetism and antiferromagnetism.

Their work combined symmetry theory and spintronics, and experiments later found evidence of the effect in multiple materials.

The discovery reshapes a long-standing view of magnetism and could guide research in quantum materials, condensed matter physics, and future spintronic devices.