INDIAN physicist Ashoke Sen has been awarded the 2026 Oskar Klein Medal, becoming the first Indian physicist to receive the honour. Sen, an ICTS-Infosys Madhava Chair professor at the International Centre for Theoretical Sciences (ICTS)-Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), Bengaluru, is widely regarded as an architect of modern string theory. The theory postulates that the elementary constituents of matter are tiny one-dimensional, string-like objects instead of point particles. It thus tries to put forth a unifying description for matter and forces between them. Established in 1988 and named after the Swedish theoretical physicist Oskar Klein, the medal is awarded annually by Stockholm University and the Nobel Committee for Physics of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. Honouring the memory of Klein, the organising committee of the Oskar Klein Memorial Lectures every year invites a distinguished researcher to give a memorial lecture and to receive the Klein medal.