Von Hippel Award

The Von Hippel Award, the Materials Research Society's highest honor, recognizes those qualities most prized by materials scientists and engineers—brilliance and originality of intellect, combined with vision that transcends the boundaries of conventional scientific disciplines.

The Von Hippel Award is named after Arthur von Hippel (1898-2003), who was a pioneer in the study of dielectrics, semiconductors, ferromagnetics and ferroelectrics. He was an early advocate of the interdisciplinary approach to materials research, and his example substantially furthered the science of materials. View the Arthur von Hippel Memorial Website »

Award Package

The Von Hippel Award includes a $10,000 cash prize, honorary membership in MRS, and a unique trophy — a mounted ruby laser crystal symbolizing the many-faceted nature of materials research. The award is presented annually at the MRS Fall Meeting where the recipient is invited to speak at the Awards Ceremony. The recipient will have registration fees and reasonable travel expenses paid in order to attend the meeting.

Nomination Information

Rules and eligibility, nomination package requirements and more are available here.

2023 Von Hippel Award winner Reshef Tenne joins MRS TV to share medical applications of his work in misfit layered compounds.

Von Hippel Award Recipients

Reshef Tenne, Weizmann Institute of Science (2023)

Reshef Tenne
Weizmann Institute of Science
Inorganic Nanotubes: From WS₂ to "Misfit" Layered Compounds

For spearheading modern research on nano-2D materials through the discovery of nanotube- and fullerene-like inorganic layered compounds. Read the new release on Tenne here.

Samuel I. Stupp, Northwestern University (2022)

Samuel I. Stupp
Northwestern University
New Frontiers in Supramolecular Design of Materials

For pioneering contributions to the development and understanding of a broad range of molecularly designed supramolecular soft materials that function as bioactive scaffolds in regenerative medicine, matrices for photocatalytic activity, and stimuli-responsive robotic structures. Read the news release on Stupp here »

Harry Atwater, California Institute of Technology (2021)

"For fundamental research in light-matter interactions—particularly nanophotonics, plasmonics, photonic metamaterials, and solar energy conversion—and numerous applications of photon control of materials illustrating the value of fundamental research to technologies that improve the quality of life"

Harry Atwater is the Otis Booth Leadership Chair of the Division of Engineering and Applied Science, and the Howard Hughes Professor of Applied Physics and Materials Science at the California Institute of Technology. Currently he is the Director for the Liquid Sunlight Alliance (LiSA), a Department of Energy Hub program for solar fuels. Atwater’s scientific effort focuses on nanophotonic light-matter interactions and solar energy conversion. His current research in solar energy centers on high efficiency photovoltaics and photoelectrochemical processes for generation of solar fuels, and his research has resulted in world records for solar photovoltaic conversion and photoelectrochemical water splitting. His work also spans fundamental nanophotonic phenomena, in plasmonics and 2D materials, and also applications including active metasurfaces and optical propulsion.

From 2014-2020, Atwater served as Director of the Joint Center for Artificial Photosynthesis (JCAP), the DOE Energy Innovation Hub for solar fuels. Atwater was an early pioneer in nanophotonics and plasmonics; he gave the name to the field of plasmonics in 2001. Atwater is a member of the US National Academy of Engineering, and a Web of Science Highly Cited Researcher. He is also founder of five early-stage companies, including Alta Devices, which set world records for photovoltaic cell and module efficiency. He is also a Fellow of the SPIE, as well as APS, MRS, and the National Academy of Inventors. He is also the founding Editor in Chief of the journal ACS Photonics, and Chair of the LightSail Committee for the Breakthrough Starshot program.

Cato T. Laurencin, University of Connecticut (2020)

"For pioneering work in engineering of musculoskeletal tissues, for extraordinary work guiding technology and science policy, and for promoting ethnic diversity and excellence in science"

Jerry D. Tersoff, IBM T.J. Watson Research Center (2019)

"For advancing the understanding of low-dimensional and nanoscale electronic materials, surfaces and interfaces, through elegant theoretical models that highlight the essential physics controlling growth, structure and electronic properties”

Hideo Hosono, Tokyo Institute of Technology (2018)

“For the discovery of high Tc iron-based superconductors, creation of transparent oxide semiconductors and inorganic electrides”

C.N.R. Rao, Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (2017)

“For his immense interdisciplinary contributions to the development of novel functional materials, including magnetic and electronic properties of transition metal oxides, nanomaterials such as fullerenes, graphene and 2-D inorganic solids, superconductivity and colossal magnetoresistance in rare-earth cuprates and manganates”

Charles M. Lieber, Harvard University (2016)

“For pioneering contributions to nanoscience, defining the foundations of rational synthesis of nanoscale wires, characterization of their fundamental physical properties, and the development of applications of these materials in chemistry, biology and medicine”

Sir Richard H. Friend, University of Cambridge (2015)

Marvin L. Cohen, University of California, Berkeley (2014)

Mildred Dresselhaus, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (2013)

Stuart S.P. Parkin, IBM Almaden Research Center (2012)

A. Paul Alivisatos, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and University of California, Berkeley (2011)

L. Eric Cross, The Pennsylvania State University (2010)

Tobin J. Marks, Northwestern University (2009)

Herbert Gleiter, Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe (2008)

William Nix, Stanford University (2007)

Knut Wolf Urban, Forschungszentrum Juelich (2006)

Robert S. Langer, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (2005)

Nick Holonyak, Jr., University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign (2004)

Julia R. Weertman, Northwestern University (2003)

Howard K. Birnbaum, University of Illinois (2002)

Simon C. Moss, University of Houston (2001)

George M. Whitesides, Harvard University (2000)

Richard S. Stein, University of Massachusetts Amherst (1999)

Larry L. Hench, Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine (1998)

Gabor A. Somorjai, University of California, Berkeley (1997)

Sir Alan H. Cottrell, University of Cambridge (1996)

William W. Mullins, Carnegie Mellon University (1995)

Alfred Y. Cho, AT&T Bell Laboratories (1994)

Frederick Seitz, The Rockefeller University (1993)

Michael F. Ashby, University of Cambridge (1992)

Theodore H. Geballe, Stanford University (1991)

Robert W. Balluffi, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1990)

John B. Goodenough, The University of Texas at Austin (1989)

Jacques Friedel, Université de Paris-Sud (1988)

Sir Charles Frank, University of Bristol (1987)

Minko Balkanski, Université Pierre et Marie Curie (1986)

John W. Cahn, National Bureau of Standards (1985)

Walter L. Brown, AT&T Bell Laboratories (1984)

Sir Peter B. Hirsch, University of Oxford (1983)

Clarence M. Zener, Carnegie Mellon University (1982)

James W. Mayer, Cornell University (1981)

W. Conyers Herring, Stanford University (1980)

David Turnbull, Harvard University (1979)

William O. Baker, Bell Laboratories (1978)

Arthur von Hippel, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1976)