Professor Martin Lüscher is a distinguished Swiss theoretical physicist renowned for his pioneering contributions to lattice quantum chromodynamics and non-perturbative methods in quantum field theory. Born in Bern on August 3, 1949, he completed his academic training at the University of Bern and the University of Hamburg, where he earned his doctorate. His career spans over four decades, beginning with significant theoretical work at DESY in Hamburg since 1979, followed by professorships in theoretical physics at the University of Bern from 1980 to 1983 and later at the University of Hamburg. Since 1999, he has been a prominent senior researcher in the Theoretical Physics Department at CERN, where his mathematical frameworks continue to shape computational approaches to fundamental particle physics.
Lüscher stands as one of the foremost driving forces behind the development of quantum chromodynamics on the lattice, establishing critical methodologies that enable precise calculations in the non-perturbative regime of strong interactions. In the 1980s, he pioneered improved actions for lattice field theories in collaboration with Peter Weisz, achieving significantly better convergence properties in the continuum limit and revolutionizing computational approaches to quantum field theory. His 1991 breakthrough with Weisz and Ulli Wolff introduced a novel recursive procedure for non-perturbative renormalization group studies, which avoided the need for prohibitively large lattices and enabled investigations across multiple length scales, substantially advancing the field's computational capabilities. His development of high-quality random number generators specifically designed for lattice field theory simulations has become indispensable infrastructure for researchers worldwide, while his theoretical frameworks have fundamentally transformed how physicists approach numerical simulations of quantum chromodynamics.
Lüscher's scholarly influence extends through his extensive publications, including seminal works such as Advanced Lattice QCD from the Les Houches Lectures of 1997 and his comprehensive review Chiral gauge theories revisited from the Erice Lectures in 2000, which continue to serve as essential references for theoretical physicists. His leadership in the field was formally recognized with the prestigious Max Planck medal from the German Physical Society in 2000 and the Greinacher Prize from the University of Bern in 2004, culminating most recently in the 2025 High Energy and Particle Physics Prize from the European Physical Society. As an emeritus researcher maintaining active theoretical work at CERN, he continues to mentor the next generation of theoretical physicists while advancing the frontiers of lattice field theory, with his current work focusing on sophisticated computational approaches to unravel the fundamental parameters of quantum chromodynamics. His enduring legacy lies in establishing the mathematical and computational frameworks that allow physicists to extract precise predictions from quantum field theories, bridging the gap between abstract theory and experimental verification.
