John Pendry among the 2024 Kyoto Prize laureates for his work on metamaterials
Pedro Miguel Etxenike was a guest at the ceremony in which the British physicist John Pendry was awarded the prestigious 2024 Kyoto Prize in Advanced Technology. A member of the DIPC’s international scientific committee, John Pendry is world-renowned as the inventor of metamaterials.
The Kyoto Prizes are prestigious international awards presented by the Inamori Foundation in Japan. Every year since 1984, these 3-million yen (around 600,000 euros) prizes have honoured individuals who have made significant contributions in the areas of basic sciences, advanced technologies, and arts and philosophy. The prizes promote innovation, foster international collaboration and recognise excellence as an inspiration for future generations.
This year John Pendry was the theoretical physicist who was recognised in the Advanced Technology category. Professor of Theoretical Solid State Physics at Imperial College London, he is one of the UK’s leading theoretical physicists. After completing his PhD at the University of Cambridge, Pendry’s early research focused on a low-energy electron diffraction theory for examining and measuring the surface of materials for practical purposes. He theoretically demonstrated that materials with electromagnetic properties not found in nature, such as negative-refractive-index materials (metamaterials) can be created by designing microstructures smaller than the wavelength of the target electromagnetic waves. This groundwork helped to create innovative materials such as “superlenses” with subwavelength resolution and “invisibility cloaks”. In 2014 he was awarded the Kavli Prize in Nanoscience.
Physicist John Pendry has very close historical ties with the DIPC community, as he was the thesis supervisor of DIPC founder Pedro Miguel Echenique during his time at Cambridge University. The prolific British physicist is now a member of the international advisory committee of the DIPC and the nanoGUNE Cooperative Research Centre.
The 2024 prize was also awarded to geologist Paul F. Hoffman (Basic Science category) for his pioneering research into “Snowball Earth” (global cooling), and choreographer William Forsythe (Arts and Philosophy category), whose work transformed ballet into a dynamic contemporary art form.
