James Watson Cronin was an American particle physicist. The Nobel Prize in Physics 1980, announced October 14, 1980. James Cronin and Val Fitch, “for the discovery of violations of fundamental symmetry principles in the decay of neutral K-mesons”. James Cronin: born 1931, Chicago, IL, USA. Val Fitch: born 1923, Merriman, NE, USA. Wiki link Wiki link Data: the Nobel Foundation (CC0).