The EPS Europhysics Prize is one of Europe’s most prestigious prizes in the field of condensed matter physics. It is awarded in recognition of a prominent and well-identifiable discovery, breakthrough, or contribution to condensed matter physics, by one or more individuals, contribution that, in the opinion of the Society's selection committee, represents scientific excellence. The award may be given for either pure or applied research at the discretion of the Society. The award recognises research for which a significant portion of the work was carried out in Europe. You may download the EPS Europhysics Prize Charter here .

The Prize Ceremony and Lecture are highlights of the EPS CMD General Conference.

The 2024 EPS Condensed Matter Division Europhysics Prize has been awarded to Professor Andrea Cavalleri. The prize will be presented on Wednesday September 4th 2024, during the Awards Sessions of the 31st General Conference of the EPS Condensed Matter Division CMD31. Link to press release. 

Previous prize winners:

2023 Prize winners:  Claudia Felser   (Max Planck Institute for Chemical Physics of Solids in Germany) and  Prof. Andrei Bernevig  (Professor of Physics at Princeton University in the United States and Visiting Ikerbasque Professor at Donostia International Physics Center in Spain)   for seminal contributions to the classification, prediction, and discovery of novel topological quantum materials . Press release.

2022 Prof. Agnès Barthélémy and Dr. Manuel Bibes (CNRS/Thales laboratory of University Paris-Saclay), Prof. Ramamoorthy Ramesh (UC Berkeley) and Prof. Nicola Spaldin (ETH Zurich) for seminal contributions to the physics and applications of multiferroic and magnetoelectric materials. Read the press release.

2020 Prof. Jörg Wrachtrup of the University of Stuttgart "for his pioneering studies on quantum coherence in solid-state systems, and their applications for sensing, and, in particular, for major breakthroughs in the study of the optical and spin properties of nitrogen vacancy centres in diamond". Read the press release here.

2018 Lucio Braicovich and Giacomo Claudio Ghiringhelli. For the development and scientific exploration of high-resolution Resonant Inelastic X-ray Scattering (RIXS)

2016 Peter Böni, Aleksandr N. Bogdanov, Christian Pfleiderer, Achim Rosch, Ashvin Vishwanath. For the theoretical prediction, the experimental discovery and the theoretical analysis of a magnetic skyrmion phase in MnSi, a new state of matter.

2014 Harold Y. Hwang, Jochen Mannhart, Jean-Marc Triscone. For the discovery and investigation of electron liquids at oxide interfaces.

2012 Steven Bramwell, Claudio Castelnovo, Santiago Grigera, Roderich Moessner, Shivaji Sondhi, Alan Tennant. For the prediction and experimental observation of magnetic monopoles in spin ice.

2010 Hartmut Buhmann, Charles Kane, Eugene Mele, Laurens W. Molenkamp and Shoucheng Zhang^1963-2018 .For the theoretical prediction and the experimental observation of the quantum spin Hall effect and topological insulators.

2008 Andre Geim and Kostya Novoselov. For discovering and isolating a single free-standing atomic layer of carbon(graphene) and elucidating its remarkable electronic properties.

2006 Antoine Georges, Gabriel Kotliar, Walter Metzner, Dieter Vollhardt. For the development and application of the dynamical mean field theory.

2005 David Awschalom, Tomasz Dietl, Hideo Ohno. For their work on ferromagnetic semiconductors and spintronics.

2004 Michel Devoret, Daniel Esteve, Johan Mooij, Yasunobu Nakamura. For the realisation and demonstration of the quantum bit concept based on superconducting circuits.

2003 Heino Finkelmann, Mark Warner. For the discovery of a new class of materials called liquid crystal elastomers.

2002 Bernard Barbara, Jonathan Friedman, Dante Gatteschi, Roberta Sessoli, Wolfgang Wernsdorfer. For the development of the field of quantum dynamics of nanomagnets, including the discovery of quantum tunnelling and interference in dynamics of magnetization.

2001 Sumio Iijima, Cees Dekker, Thomas W. Ebbesen, Paul L. McEuen. Discovery of multi-and single-walled carbon nanotubes and pioneering studies of their fundamental mechanical and electronic properties.

2000 Paolo Carra^†2005, Gerrit van der Laan, Gisela Schütz-Gmeineder. Pioneering work in establishing the field of magnetic x-ray dichroism.

1999 Christian Glattli, Michael Reznikov. For developing novel techniques for noise measurements in solids leading to experimental observation of carriers with a fractional charge.

1998 T. Maurice Rice. For original contributions to the theory of strongly correlated electron systems.

1997 Albert Fert, Peter Gruenberg^1939-2018, Stuart S. P. Parkin. For the discovery and contribution to the understanding of the giant magnetoresistance effect in transition-metal multilayers and demonstrations of its potential for technological applications.

1996 R.H. Friend. For pioneering work on semiconducting organic polymer materials and demonstration of an organic light emitting diodes.

1995 Yakir Aharonov, Michael V. Berry. For the introduction of fundamental concepts in physics that have profound impact on condensed matter science.

1994 Donald R. Huffman, Wolfgang Krätschmer, Harold W. Kroto^1940-2016, Richard E. Smalley^1943-2005
For new molecular forms of carbon and their production in the solid state.

1993 Boris Leonidovitch Altshuler, Arkady Girshevich Aronov^1939-1994, David E. Khmelnitskii, Anatoly I. Larkin^1932-2005, Boris Spivak. For theoretical work on coherent phenomena in disordered conductors.

1992 Gerhard Ertl, Harald Ibach, J. Peter Toennies. For pioneering studies of surface structures, dynamics and reactions through the development of novel experimental methods.

1991 Klaus Bechgaard^1945-2017, Denis Jérome. For synthesis of a new class of organic metals and the discovery of their superconductivity and novel magnetic properties.

1990 Roberto Car, Michele Parrinello. For a novel and powerful method for the ab-initio calculation of molecular dynamics

1989 Frank Steglich, Hans-Rudi Ott, Gil G. Lonzarich. For pioneering investigations of heavy-fermion metals

1988 J. Georg Bednorz, Karl Alex Müller. For the discovery of high-temperature superconductivity.

1987 Igor K. Yanson. For point-contact spectroscopy in metals.

1986 Ferenc Mezei. For neutron spin echo spectroscopy.

1985 Jens Als-Nielsen, Michael Pepper. For the experimental study of low dimensional physics.

1984 Gerd K. Binnig, Heinrich Rohrer^1933-2013. For the scanning tunnelling microscope.

1983 Isaac F. Silvera. For atomic and solid hydrogen.

1982 Klaus von Klitzing. For experimental demonstration of the quantized Hall resistance.

1980 Ole Krog Andersen, Andries R. Miedema^1933-1992. For original methods for the calculation of the electronic properties of materials.

1979 Eric Albert Ash, J.H. Collins, Yurii Vasil'evich Gulaev, K.A. Ingebrigtsen, Edward George Sydney Paige^1930-2004. For the physical principles of surface acoustic wave devices.

1978 Zhores Ivanovich Alferov^1921-2019. For heterojunctions.

1977 Walter Eric Spear^1921-2008. For amorphous silicon devices.

1976 Wolfgang Helfrich. For contributions to the physics of liquid crystal.

1975 V.S. Bagaev, Leonid Vemiaminovich Keldysh^1931-2016, J.E. Pokrovsky, M. Voos. For the condensation of excitons.

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