While I understand academia has its own systematic problems, I do not get your rant. Could you give concrete examples of how academia is "discouraging critical thought at this point and intelligence is discouraged as well"?

This is some weird sort of anti buzzword bingo. There's a lot of words here but it doesn't actually say anything

My own PhD leaves me inclined to share your rage against the machine but do you care to expound on why this applies to this award?

Because, knowing little about physics, this strikes me as reasonably interesting work compared to the slop in my own field.