Newswise — Michael Norman, director of the Argonne Quantum Institute and a Distinguished Fellow on the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory, has acquired the 2026 John Bardeen Prize sponsored by the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
The award honors theoretical work that deepens our understanding of superconductivity and results in predictions that may be examined by experiments. Superconductivity is a property of sure supplies that lets electrical energy circulate with out resistance. With no power misplaced as warmth, superconductors are necessary supplies for applied sciences equivalent to medical imaging programs, scientific devices and future power purposes.
Norman was acknowledged for pioneering analysis that formed how scientists interpret photoemission experiments. These experiments use mild to check how electrons behave inside supplies. His work has helped hyperlink these measurements to the theoretical concepts scientists use to clarify how superconductors behave, particularly in unconventional supplies that don’t match the usual textbook image. The result’s a clearer solution to examine information throughout many experiments and plenty of supplies.
“I’m grateful to have my work recognized with the John Bardeen Prize,” Norman stated. “Superconductivity is still one of the most challenging problems in physics. It’s rewarding to know this work has helped connect what experiments show us to the ideas we use to explain how these materials work.”
At Argonne, Norman has targeted on actual supplies, not simply ideally suited fashions. His work has additionally helped scientists make sense of outcomes from nickel-based superconductors, a more recent household of supplies that’s broadening the search for how superconductivity can come up.
As director of the Argonne Quantum Institute, Norman brings collectively groups throughout disciplines to advance quantum science and know-how. In this function, he helps Argonne’s mission to advance basic science whereas laying the groundwork for future applied sciences with broad societal influence.
The Bardeen Prize is awarded each 4 years to 3 scientists and is sponsored by the Department of Physics on the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and the Friends of Bardeen.
The prize and certificates recognizing the contributions of the three recipients might be offered at a particular session through the 2026 Conference on Materials and Mechanisms of Superconductivity, July 19–25, in Stuttgart, Germany.
Argonne National Laboratory seeks options to urgent nationwide issues in science and know-how by conducting modern primary and utilized analysis in just about each scientific self-discipline. Argonne is managed by UChicago Argonne, LLC for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science.
The U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science is the only largest supporter of primary analysis within the bodily sciences within the United States and is working to deal with a few of the most urgent challenges of our time. For extra info, go to https://energy.gov/science.