June 10, 2026 ( Oslo, Norway ) Honoring groundbreaking scientific discovery, the recipients of The Kavli Prizes 2026 in the fields of astrophysics, nanoscience and neuroscience are announced today by President Annelin Eriksen at The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters, Oslo, Norway.
The discoveries honored in astrophysics, nanoscience and neuroscience are challenging assumptions, encouraging scientists to explore new ideas and furthering our understanding of how the world works. From revealing how our brains can be so extremely efficient in learning, to uncovering the hidden collisions under the seemingly harmonious spiral of the Milky Way, to our ability to change the properties of materials just by giving them a twist. Each of the discoveries honored today helps to answer vital questions and reveal further areas for investigation.
The Kavli Prize in Nanoscience for 2026 is awarded to
Eva Y. Andrei, Pablo Jarillo-Herrero and Allan H. MacDonald
“for foundational work that established the field of Twistronics.”
10 scientists from three fields with 9 different nationalities and hailing from three continents are honored for their research that has broadened our understanding of the big, the small and the complex. The laureates in each field will share $1 million USD. They will be awarded The Kavli Prize in Oslo in September.
– Honoring these excellent scientists is not only a recognition of achievements, it is an investment in our shared future, affirming the curiosity, rigor, and courage that drive human progress, says Annelin Eriksen, President of The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters.
The recipients of The Kavli Prize represent what is best in the scientific enterprise. Their work builds on one another, deepens our understanding of ourselves and the world we live in, and creates new opportunities for the next generation of theoreticians, investigators and inventors. The science honored today is already helping to lay the groundwork for a world of new opportunities in medicine, technology and our understanding of the universe.
NANOSCIENCE
Changing materials with magic angles – A twisted new field
Twistronics introduced a new paradigm in nanoscience and opened a powerful new platform for exploring interaction-driven quantum materials, says Mari-Ann Einarsrud, Chair of The Kavli Prize Committee in Nanoscience.
The 2026 Kavli Prize in Nanoscience honors Eva Y. Andrei, Pablo Jarillo-Herrero and Allan H. MacDonald for “foundational work that established the field of Twistronics”. The method of combining two or more atomically thin layers stacked on top of each other, while twisted, is the fundament for the new-established field. When naming the new discipline, a word play on “twist” and “electronics” were combined.
It might sound like magic, but it is nanoscience: Rotating flat layers of the nanomaterial graphene at what turned out to be a magic angle of 1,1° has proven to give the materials unconventional properties; one example is superconductivity.
By this simple concept, scientists can induce new properties in materials without changing the composition.
The awarded scientists are two experimentalists and one theoretician. A new era in materials science started after graphene was isolated in 2004 and used to build electronical devices.
Eva Y. Andrei used the discovery of graphene to further pioneer research and showed how geometric control of graphene bilayer could change material properties. The idea of twisting and rotating was so fundamentally unheard of at that time; she found it a nightmare to get the work published. This changed with her perseverance and continuous research. As in a delicious plot twist, the same journal which had refused to send her paper to peer review, described Eva Andrei’s research as “the scientific breakthrough of the year” in 2009.
Her innovations were by 2011 set in a broader theoretical framework by Allan H. MacDonald. As a theoretician, he showed that small rotation angles could have the largest impact. The “magic angle” of 1,1° was now confirmed as the sweet spot where huge quantities of electrons gather at the same energy level, which creates the very best conditions for superconductivity.
With a well-known nose for science conundrums, Pablo Jarillo-Herrero, was already in the field. The suggested approaches within the emerging field were taken further by experimenting on obtaining control over the nanomaterials, rotation, and temperature. In 2018 Pablo Jarillo-Herrero (et al.) published two papers on the subject in the same issue of Nature.
The most exciting result was when electronic resistance dropped to zero at 1,7 Kelvin for a twisted bilayer of graphene, showing perfect conditions for superconductivity. In this system, electron-electron interactions for superconductivity were proved to be stronger than previously known. For the future ahead, Twistronics might revolutionize electronics and optoelectronics.
More details available at www.kavliprize.org
About The Kavli Prize
Mari-Ann Einarsrud is Chair of The Kavli Prize Committee for Nanoscience
The Kavli Prize is a partnership among The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters, The Norwegian Ministry of Education and Research, and The Kavli Foundation (USA).
The Kavli Prize honors scientists for breakthroughs in astrophysics, nanoscience and neuroscience that transform our understanding of the big, the small and the complex.
A one-million-dollar prize is awarded every other year in each of the three fields.
The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters formally appoints the laureates based on recommendations from three independent selection committees whose members are nominated by The Chinese Academy of Sciences, The French Academy of Sciences, The Max Planck Society of Germany, The U.S. National Academy of Sciences, and The Royal Society, UK.
For more information, please contact:
Marina Tofting (Norway), The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters
(+47) 938 66 312 marina.tofting@dnva.no
This year's Kavli Prize Laureates in Nanoscience are:
Eva Y. Andrei, Rutgers University, US
Pablo Jarillo-Herrero, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), US
Allan H. MacDonald, The University of Texas at Austin, US