Former Berkeley Lab Director Paul Alivisatos Receives the Enrico Fermi Presidential Award

Paul Alivisatos, a world-renowned chemist and president of the University of Chicago who served as director of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) from 2009 to 2016, has been named one of this year’s winners of the Enrico Fermi Presidential Award. The award was announced by the White House on Dec. 19 and is one of the most prestigious science and technology honors bestowed by the U.S. government.

Alivisatos is a trailblazer in the field of nanoscience, the study of materials on the scale of billionths of a meter. The award honors his work “developing the foundational materials and physical chemistry to produce beneficial nanocrystals and polymers with controlled size, shape, connectivity, and topology that underpin energy-efficient technology, optical devices, and medical diagnostic technology.”

The Enrico Fermi Presidential Award was established in 1956 as a memorial to the legacy of Enrico Fermi, an Italian-born naturalized American citizen. Fermi was a 1938 Nobel Laureate in physics, and he went on to achieve the first nuclear chain reaction in 1942. The Fermi Award encourages excellence in research in energy science and technology. The award recognizes scientists, engineers, and science policymakers whose work benefits humanity.

Among his many achievements, Alivisatos’ work has advanced semiconductor nanocrystals, including a technology that has created more energy-efficient consumer electronics and could further improve solar cells and medical imaging tools. 

“Paul has made great scientific discoveries and has developed breakthrough technologies. He has also been a visionary leader at Berkeley Lab and at the University of Chicago. It is very appropriate for someone with such a broad range of accomplishments to receive this prestigious award named after Enrico Fermi,” said Berkeley Lab Director Mike Witherell. 

In addition to his scientific research, Alivisatos held several key leadership roles at Berkeley Lab. He joined the lab in 1991 and served as director of the Materials Sciences Division, associate lab director for physical sciences, and deputy director before becoming the director of Berkeley Lab. He was also the founding director of the Molecular Foundry, a DOE Office of Science user facility focused on nanoscience research. 

Alivisatos also served as executive vice chancellor and provost of UC Berkeley, in addition to holding a number of faculty appointments.

Among many notable honors, Alivisatos has been awarded the Kavli Prize in Nanoscience, Priestley Medal, the National Medal of Science, the Wolf Prize in Chemistry, and an E.O. Lawrence Award – the highest scientific prize given by DOE. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the American Philosophical Society. He earned his Ph.D. in physical chemistry from UC Berkeley in 1986.

Alivisatos shares the 2024 Fermi Award with Héctor D. Abruña and John H. Nuckolls. Winners of the Fermi Award receive a citation signed by the President and the Secretary of Energy, a gold-plated medal bearing the likeness of Enrico Fermi, and an honorarium of $100,000. In the event the award is given to more than one individual in the same year, the recipients share the honorarium equally. The winners will be honored with a hybrid award ceremony in Washington, DC, on Jan. 10, 2025.

Other Berkeley Lab scientists who have received the Enrico Fermi Presidential Award include Darleane Hoffman (2023), Gabor Somorjai (2023), Charles Shank (2014), Andrew Sessler (2013), Arthur Rosenfeld (2005), Luis Alvarez (1987), John Lawrence (1983), Glenn Seaborg (1959), and Ernest Lawrence (1957).

###

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) is committed to groundbreaking research focused on discovery science and solutions for abundant and reliable energy supplies. The lab’s expertise spans materials, chemistry, physics, biology, earth and environmental science, mathematics, and computing. Researchers from around the world rely on the lab’s world-class scientific facilities for their own pioneering research. Founded in 1931 on the belief that the biggest problems are best addressed by teams, Berkeley Lab and its scientists have been recognized with 16 Nobel Prizes. Berkeley Lab is a multiprogram national laboratory managed by the University of California for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science.

DOE’s Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States, and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, please visit energy.gov/science.