Gothenburg Lise Meitner Award

About Lise Meitner

Lise Meitner was a researcher in Berlin from 1907 to 1938, when she was forced to flee to Sweden, where she came to work for 20 years. As a woman she was initially not allowed in the laboratories where men worked and later she had a hard time getting a regular academic position. With these qualifications, she was still one of the leading nuclear physicists in the world. After her escape to Sweden, she was the first to understand nuclear fission when she during a stay in Kungälv Christmas in 1938 , along with her nephew Otto Frisch, could explain the results that Otto Hahn, her colleague in Berlin, sent her.

Gothenburg Lise Meitner Award

The Gothenburg Lise Meitner Award is not only about awarding well merited physicists, but also to enrich the scientific environment in Gothenburg. People belonging to either of Gothenburg Physics Center's three departments can nominate for the award.

The award was established in 2006 by the Department of Physics at University of Gothenburg and holds the honor, a monetary prize of EUR 3000 and a piece of art. In conjunction with the award ceremony, that takes place in September every year, the laureate holds a lecture in memory of the nuclear physicist Lise Meitner.

Laureate of the Gothenburg Lise Meitner Award 2026: Dr. Masato Sagawa

The Gothenburg Physics Centre's Lise Meitner Award 2026 is awarded to Dr. Masato Sagawa for the discovery of sintered Nd–Fe–B permanent magnets, a breakthrough that transformed magnetic materials and laid the foundation for several of today's energy-efficient technologies.

“It is a great honor and a source of great joy for me to receive such a prestigious award,” says Dr. Masato Sagawa, who will be visiting Chalmers on September 10 to receive the award and give the traditional Lise Meitner lecture.

Dr. Sagawa made the decisive physics-based leap that enabled high-performance, anisotropic Nd–Fe–B sintered magnets. By introducing boron into the material, he demonstrated how the iron lattice could be modified to strengthen ferromagnetic exchange, leading to the Nd₂Fe₁₄B compound. Combining exceptionally high magnetization with strong magnetic anisotropy, the material became the basis for the world's most powerful permanent magnets. He also established the high-performance processing route based on powder metallurgy and grain alignment.

Today, Nd–Fe–B magnets underpin modern electrification through high-efficiency motors and generators used in electric vehicles and wind turbines. They have also played a crucial role in the development of information technology, enabling compact and high-performance hard disk drive actuators and motors.

When he developed the magnets in the early 1980s, Sagawa could not foresee the enormous technological impact they would have.

“No, I did not imagine such a big development at first. I noticed the impacts of my discovery and invention step by step.”

Despite the transformative impact of his work, the path to the discovery was far from straightforward. One of the key scientific challenges was turning a promising alloy into a true permanent magnet with sufficient coercivity.

“I probably found a basic compound consisting of Nd, Fe and B, but I couldn't confirm it. The challenge was to give the alloy the coercivity of a permanent magnet,” Sagawa recalls.

Rather than a single breakthrough moment, he describes the discovery as the culmination of persistent effort and incremental progress.

“I think that my discovery was the result of many small steps.”

His fascination with science began at an early age. Inspired by a dream of becoming a great scientist, he pursued doctoral studies and spent decades working with magnetic materials.

“Although I wasn't able to become a world-leading scientist in any of the fields I was interested in, I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to invent NdFeB permanent magnets. I am now dedicating everything I have to the development of NdFeB magnets, he says.

Looking back on his career, Sagawa emphasizes the importance of building a strong scientific foundation while maintaining the courage to pursue independent ideas.

“After obtaining your doctorate, join an existing research group and contribute to its research while searching for your own unique topic. Once you find a good topic, become independent and immerse yourself in your own research. Universities and research institutions that allow this kind of approach can achieve great results.”

Dr. Sagawa was nominated for the Gothenburg Lise Meitner Award by Johan Åkerman of the University of Gothenburg.

The following physicists have been awarded the Gothenburg Lise Meitner Award: 

• 2025 Tomoko M. Nakanishi: She wants to understand the wisdom of the plants
• 2024 Albert-László Barabási: "I am driven by the desire to advance the field of physics"
• 2023 Nicola Spaldin: "Receives Lise Meitner Award for novel research on multiferroics"
• 2021 Ferenc Mezei: “Most of my research has focused on things that could be useful for others"
• 2020 Anne L'Huillier*: She sheds light on what happens in a trillionth of a second
• 2019 Austen Angell​
• 2018 Chandrashekhar Joshi​
• 2017 Françoise Combes
• 2016 Klaus Blaum
• 2015 Ivan Schuller
• 2014 Ewine F. van Dishoeck
• 2013 Mildred Dresselhaus
• 2012 Werner Nahm
• 2010/11 Stefan W. Hell*
• 2009 Renata Kallosh
• 2008 I. K. Yanson
• 2007 Pierre Ramond
• 2006 Robert Marc Friedman

* Stefan W. Hell received the Nobel prize in Chemistry 2014 "for the development of super-resolved fluorescence microscopy”. Anne L'Huillier received the Nobel prize in Physics 2023 for “for experimental methods that generate attosecond pulses of light for the study of electron dynamics in matter”.

The prize was not awarded in 2022, due to the corona pandemic already delaying the awarding of the 2020 and 2021 prize.

Nominations for the award

Members of the Gothenburg Physics Centre can nominate for the award. February 1 is the strict deadline each year for nominations for that year's award.

More information is found on Chalmers' Intranet (login in using Chalmers ID, CID):

Nominations for the Gothenburg Lise Meitner Award