E-MRS Professor Jan Czochralski Award

Professor Jan Czochralski, the now famous Polish scientists, accidentally discovered a method for producing a single crystal of metal in 1916. Whilst working in Germany, he found that after inadvertently dipping a pen into a small crucible of molten tin and withdrawing it, a thread of tin was hanging from the nib. He established that this thread of metal was actually a single crystal. However, it was only some 30 years later that the principle was developed into what is now known as the Czochralski Method for growing single crystals of Germanium and Silicon - the fundamental requirement for the vast range of modern electronic equipment and devices.

Czochralski himself was invited to return to Poland in 1926 by the then President and was appointed as a Professor at Warsaw University of Technology (Politechnika Warszawska) becoming the father of materials science research at the University.

With E-MRS inaugurating its annual Fall Meeting in 2002 and taking into account Czochralski’s significance for materials science, technology transfer to industry, and international collaboration, E-MRS established the award in the name of Professor Jan Czochralski in 2004. Currently the beneficiary of the award is presented with the E-MRS Professor Jan Czochralski Gold Medal and a commemorative Diploma at a ceremony during the Plenary Session of the Fall Meeting held in the Duża Aula (Main Hall) of Warsaw University of Technology.

Criteria for the E-MRS Czochralski Award

The beneficiary of the Czochralski Award is honoured for their achievements in materials science. Consequently, it is likely that the laureate will be a very senior scientist in the twilight of their career, or even recently retired, with a world recognised reputation in materials science research or developments in academia or industry. The laureate is required to deliver a 45 minute plenary presentation, in English, on a topic which should be of interest to a broad cohort of the materials science community.

The beneficiary will be entitled to be reimbursed for travel costs, economy class airline ticket if necessary, and the E-MRS will meet the cost of accommodation and subsistence during the conference.

Nominations must include:

  1. Curriculum Vitae
  2. List of key publications (including citations and impact factors);
  3. Any relevant information highlighting notable achievments;
  4. A statement that the nominee is prepared to be present throughout the conference. 

The nomination package should not exceed 6 pages (excluding the list of key publications) and should be sent by email to emrs@european-mrs.com (subject:Czochralski Award) The deadline for receipt of nominations is 5pm on …………………..

To date the following recipients have been honoured:
- 2004 - Prof. Walter HEYWANG, formerly Director of Research of Siemens.
- 2005 - Prof. Boris PATON, the long term President of the Ukraine National Academy of Science.
- 2006 - Prof. Thaddeus B. MASSALSKI from Carnegie Mellon University.
- 2007 - Prof. Shuji NAKAMURA from University of California.
- 2008 - Prof. Kurt Heinz Juergen BUSCHOW from University of Amsterdam.
- 2009 - Prof. Hermann GRIMMEISS from University of Lund.
- 2010 - Prof. Mildred DRESSELHAUS from MIT, USA.
- 2011 - Prof. Federico CAPASSO from Harvard University, USA.
- 2012 - Prof. Anthony M. GLAZER from Clarendon Laboratory, U.K.
- 2013 - Prof. Sylwester POROWSKI, IHPP, PAS, Poland.
- 2014 - Prof. George M. WHITESIDES, Harvard University, USA.
- 2015 - Prof. Claes-Göran GRANQVIST, The Angström Laboratory, Uppsala, Sweden.
- 2016 - Prof. Manijeh RAZEGHI, Northwestern University, USA.
- 2017 - Prof. Elvira FORTUNATO, CENIMAT - Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Portugal.
- 2018 - Prof. Herbert GLEITER - Research Centre Karlsruhe (INT), Germany.
- 2019 - Prof. Donal D.C. BRADLEY - University of Oxford, U.K.
- 2020 - Prof. Alexandra NAVROTSKY - Arizona State University, USA.
- 2021 - Prize not awarded.
- 2022 - Prof. Joseph E. GREENE, University of Illinois, USA.
- 2023 - Prof. Yury GOGOTSI, Drexel University, USA.
- 2024 - Prof. Daniel LOSS, University of Basel, Switzerland.