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This is an extended version of my Nobel Lecture, delivered on December 8, 2021. I will recall the genesis of the concept of multiple equilibria in natural sciences. I will then describe my contribution to the development of this concept in the framework of statistical mechanics. Finally, I will briefly mention the cornucopia of applications of these ideas both in physics and in other disciplines.Received 2 April 2023DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/RevModPhys.95.030501© 2023 Nobel Foundation, Published by the American Physical Society*The 2021 Nobel Prize for Physics was shared by Syukuro Manabe, Klaus Hasselmann, and Giorgio Parisi. This paper is the text of the address given in conjunction with the award.Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)Research AreasClimate researchInterdisciplinary Physics
Giorgio Parisi (Thu,) studied this question.