Nano Research

Tsinghua University Press and Springer Nature honor two of the world’s leading experts in nanoscience and nanotechnology

Two outstanding scientists have been awarded the annual Nano Research Award which is sponsored by Tsinghua University Press (TUP) and Springer Nature. Louis E. Brus is an emeritus Professor at Columbia University in New York. Moungi Bawendi is the Professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Professor Louis E. Brus

Professor Louis E. Brus won the Nano Research Award for his pioneering contributions on discovering and analyzing size-dependent quantum effects in colloidal semiconductor nanocrystals (chemical quantum dots) synthesized in liquids. Smaller particles absorbed light that shifted towards blue compared to larger particles. Today, quantum dots are used in a wide range of electronic products, including computer and television screens and LED lamps. They can also be used to map biological tissue. These important discoveries have had wide impact.

Prof. Brus is currently the Samuel Latham Mitchill Professor Emeritus, and Special Research Scientist at Columbia University. Prof. Brus became an elected fellow of the American Physical Society in 1980 and of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1998, and he was elected to the United States National Academy of Sciences in 2004. He shared the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2023 with Moungi Bawendi and Alexy Ekimov.  He won the American Chemical Society’s Chemistry of Materials Prize in 2005 and the Kavli Prize in Nanoscience in 2008. Prof. Brus shared the R.W. Wood Prize of the Optical Society of America (OSA, now Optica) with Russian scientists Alexander L. Efros and Alexy Ekimov in 2006 for their work with quantum dots. In addition, Prof. Brus received the National Academy of Sciences Award in Chemical Sciences in 2010 for his ongoing work with nanocrystals. He served as chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Gordon Research Conferences in 1998.

Professor Moungi Bawendi

Professor Moungi Bawendi was selected for the award in recognition of his groundbreaking contributions to the production of near-perfect quantum dots of specified sizes and smooth surfaces. The method he pioneered is easy to use and revolutionary. In today's life, quantum dots are used in a wide range of industries, including the field of display technology, photovoltaics and biomedicine. This important discovery has revolutionized human society.

Professor Moungi Bawendi is the Lester Wolfe Professor of Chemistry at MIT. Prof. Bawendi received a Sloan Research Fellowship in 1994, he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2004, and to the National Academy of Sciences in 2007. He received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2023, the Raymond and Beverly Sackler International Prize in Chemistry in 2001, the Ernest Orlando Lawrence Prize in 2006, and the American Chemical Society (ACS) Award in Colloid Chemistry in 2010.

The Nano Research Award, established by the journal Nano Research together with TUP and Springer Nature in 2013, is awarded for outstanding contributions to nano research by an individual scientist. The winner is selected by the Award Committee (the Editors-in-Chief, Associate Editors, representatives from TUP and Springer Nature) after receiving nominations from the members of the Nano Research Editorial Board. The first sixteen recipients of the honor were Prof. Charles M. Lieber of Harvard University, Prof. Paul Alivisatos and Prof. Peidong Yang, both of the University of California Berkeley, Prof. Yi Xie of University of Science and Technology of China, Prof. Lei Jiang of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Prof. Chad Mirkin of Northwestern University, Prof. Xinhe Bao of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Prof. Omar M. Yaghi of the University of California Berkeley, Prof. Dongyuan Zhao of Fudan University, Prof. John A. Rogers of Northwestern University, Prof. Zhongfan Liu of Peking University, Prof. Cees Dekker of Delft University of Technology, Prof. Hongjie Dai of Stanford University, Prof. Zhong Lin Wang of Georgia Institute of Technology, Prof. Yi Cui of Stanford University, Prof. Robert Langer of Massachusetts Institute of Technology.