[WATERLOO, ON – April 14, 2026]-- Perimeter Institute Research Faculty member Mayuko Yamashita has been named The Hideki Yukawa Chair in Theoretical Physics, thanks to $1.5 million gift from an anonymous donor.
The funding, a six-year commitment, will be matched by Perimeter founder Mike Lazaridis as part of the expanding program to bolster exceptional researchers early in their careers. The position is named for Hideki Yukawa, a Japanese theoretical physicist who received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1949 for his prediction of the existence of mesons on the basis of theoretical work on nuclear forces.
“We are so grateful for this generous gift that reinforces Perimeter’s founding vision to pursue transformative discoveries by investing in exceptional talent,” says Marcela Carena, Executive Director of Perimeter Institute. “At Perimeter, we believe the answers to the hardest questions in physics will be found through collaboration across disciplines. Mayuko’s mathematical expertise is already offering new insights into quantum field theory, and this chair will enable her to take her research further by supporting collaborations with visiting scientists, students, and postdoctoral scholars.”
Researchers working in math and physics study similar objects, but the language they use can differ across disciplines.
Yamashita’s research applies the deep, logical thinking of pure mathematics to questions in geometry and topology – the study of geometric objects and shapes of things. Specifically, she focuses on stable homotopy theory – a tool for studying classifications of topological structures.
“Many mathematicians tend to specialize in a single area of mathematics, but in my experience, physicists are not like that -- they are interested in collaborating and using as many mathematical ideas as possible,” says Yamashita. “These conversations change the questions for me, and drive me to learn new mathematics, and it has been leading to a new direction that’s been really interesting.”
Yamashita joined Perimeter’s faculty in 2025. A rising star in mathematical physics, she has received numerous awards, including the Marie Sklodowska Curie Grand Prize from the Japan Science and Technology Agency (2022) and the Dannie Heineman Prize from the Gottingen Academy of Sciences and Humanities (2024), and the Maryam Mirzakhani New Frontiers Prize (2024).
“I came to Perimeter one year ago, and it has been exciting and challenging to move from a mathematical department in Japan to a physics institute,” says Yamashita. “I’m grateful to the donor who supported this position, because it is an opportunity to grow the mathematical physics discipline at Perimeter, and I believe this interaction between mathematics and physics is very fruitful.”