Why Pierre-Gilles de Gennes received the 1991 Physics Nobel

Why it was awarded

Pierre-Gilles de Gennes received the 1991 Nobel Prize in Physics for discovering that methods developed for studying order phenomena in simple systems can be generalized to more complex forms of matter, in particular to liquid crystals and polymers. The award recognizes how this contribution changed the direction of its field. This achievement represents one of the major advances recognized in physics at the time.