David Gross and Frank Wilczek were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for solving the last great remaining problem in the "Standard Model" of quantum mechanics. By discovering how the nucleus of the atom actually works, they have brought us one giant step closer to the Holy Grail of physics, the long-sought "unified theory" that would explain the relation of all known forces in the universe.

For years, the Standard Model could not explain the action of the "strong force" that binds the particles in the nucleus of an atom. Whenever logical calculations of this force predicted a positive number, experiment always produced a negative one. It was Gross, then a Professor at Princeton University, and his graduate student, Wilczek, who explained this apparent contradiction.

Unlike gravity and electromagnetism, which decrease with distance, the strong force tightens its grip as particles are pulled apart, and relaxes as they move together, like a rubber band. Gross and Wilczek's theory of the strong force was quickly confirmed by experimentation, and is mathematically compatible with our understanding of both electromagnetism and the "weak force" of radioactive decay. The relationship of gravity to these forces remains the missing piece of the unified theory, but when it is found, it will be thanks to the work of the greatest of physicists, among whom we must include Gross and Wilczek.