Michael Grätzel receives the Frontiers of Knowledge Award

The BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award in the Basic Sciences category has gone in this thirteenth edition to Paul Alivisatos (University of California, Berkeley, United States) and Michael Grätzel (Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland) for their fundamental contributions to the development of new nanomaterials already in use for the production of renewable energies and in latest-generation electronics. “Grätzel’s groundbreaking work includes the invention of a dye-sensitized solar cell named after him,” reads the committee’s citation, while “Alivisatos has made pioneering contributions in using semiconductor nanocrystals for energy and display applications.” In the video which can be seen by clicking Play on the image at the top of this page, the president of the jury, Theodor Hänsch, Director of the Division of Laser Spectroscopy, Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics, reads the citation of the award.