Science awards

Stories about people at Harvard who have been recognized for their contributions to science and technology

All from this series

  • Harvard’s Mitrovica awarded MacArthur ‘genius grant’

    Jerry X. Mitrovica, the Frank Baird Jr. Professor of Science in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Harvard, was awarded a “genius grant” by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.

    Jerry Mitrovica, MacArthur genius grant recipient
  • Harvard microbe hunter wins Blavatnik Award

    Emily Balskus will be honored on Sept. 23 with the Blavatnik National Award for Young Scientists for her work in tracking never-before-seen chemistry to specific bacteria in the human gut.

    Emily Balskus in her lab.
  • A silly-sounding prize for some serious science

    Harvard-trained researchers win Golden Goose Awards from the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

  • Black hole project nets Breakthrough Prize

    The nearly 350 astronomers, postdoctoral fellows, graduate students, and undergraduates who worked for more than a decade to capture the first-ever image of a black hole have been named the recipients of the 2020 Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics.

    Shep Doeleman
  • Funding promising scientists

    Associate Professor of Physics Cora Dvorkin and Associate Professor of Computer Science Stratos Idreos will each receive at least $150,000 a year for the next five years through the Department of Energy Early Career Research Program.

    Matter in space
  • 10 faculty elected to National Academy of Sciences

    Ten Harvard University scientists have been elected by their peers to the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) in recognition of “their distinguished and continuing achievements in original research.” Two Harvard scientists also received awards from the NAS.

    National Academy of Sciences
  • Tackling climate change through study

    Harvard’s Climate Change Solutions Fund, now in its fifth year, is awarding seven research projects $1 million in grants.

    Thermovision of house.
  • Harvard scientists receive Canada Gairdner Awards

    Two Harvard Medical School researchers, Vikram Patel and Timothy Springer, have received the prestigious Canada Gairdner Award for transformational work in the fields of biomedicine and global health.

  • A gold star for going green

    Harvard received an award at the Climate Leadership Conference in Baltimore, recognizing its commitment to the environment.

  • Breakthrough science recognized

    A series of studies conducted by Alexander Schier, the Leo Erikson Life Sciences Professor of Molecular and Cellular Biology, and members of his lab including Jeff Farrell, Yiqun Wang, Bushra Raj, and James Gagnon, and additional work of collaborators from Harvard Medical School, has been featured as the “2018 Breakthrough of the Year” by Science magazine.

    Science image
  • Wood recognized with Planck-Humboldt Medal

    Harvard engineer and roboticist Robert Wood is honored with the newly created Max Planck-Humboldt Medal for his role and accomplishments in the field of soft robotics.

    Robert Wood
  • Imaging leap rewarded with $3M

    Harvard Professor Xiaowei Zhuang has been named the recipient of the 2019 Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences in recognition of her pioneering work in the development of super-resolution microscopy techniques.

    Xiaowei Zhuang
  • A Nobel incubator

    Professor Richard Losick shares the story of a single floor in a single building on Divinity Avenue that served as a scientific home to three Nobel laureates and a training ground for six future laureates. A 10th researcher followed the same path, though he was on the floor above.

    Richard Losick
  • James McCarthy recognized for climate change insights

    Tyler Prize winner James McCarthy, a professor of biological oceanography and Alexander Agassiz Professor of Biological Oceanography in the Museum of Comparative Zoology, remains optimistic that climate change is a solvable problem.

  • Professor Paola Arlotta awarded George Ledlie Prize

    Developmental neurobiologist Paola Arlotta has been awarded the George Ledlie Prize by the President and Fellows of Harvard College.

  • ‘Innovative’ teaching is recognized

    Professors Elena Kramer and Martin Nowak have been named the recipients of the 2016 Fannie Cox Prize for Excellence in Science Teaching.

  • Harvard professor wins Blavatnik Award

    Harvard Professor David Charbonneau has won a Blavatnik Award for his work identifying faraway planets, and other science.

  • Two professors win Wolf Prize

    Harvard professors C. Ronald Kahn and Stuart L. Schreiber have won the Wolf Prize, considered the most prestigious award in science after the Nobel Prize and the Lasker Award.

  • Holdren Wins Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement

    John P. Holdren, the Teresa and John Heinz Professor of Environmental Policy at the Kennedy School of Government, has won the Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement for his work to…