"Very fundamental scientific research that has opened up a new field with myriad possibilities."
— Nergis Mavalvala, dean of the MIT School of Science
A New Field of Physics Honored
Pablo Jarillo-Herrero, MIT professor of physics, has been named a co-recipient of the 2026 Kavli Prize in Nanoscience. He shares the award with Eva Y. Andrei (Rutgers University) and Allan MacDonald (University of Texas at Austin).
The prize recognizes their foundational work in establishing the field of twistronics—a technique that involves rotating two-dimensional materials like graphene to a precise "magic angle." This rotation induces exotic properties such as superconductivity and magnetism.
The Award and the Laureates
- Prize Breakdown: Jarillo-Herrero, Andrei, and MacDonald each receive a share of $1 million per field.
- Sponsors: The Kavli Prize is awarded biennially by the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters, the Norwegian Ministry of Education and Research, and the Kavli Foundation.
Three landmark contributions defined the field:
- Eva Y. Andrei (2009): Conducted the foundational experiment demonstrating that the twist angle modifies the electronic structure in graphene.
- Allan MacDonald (2011): Developed the theoretical framework explaining the electronic structure at discrete magic angles.
- Pablo Jarillo-Herrero (2018): Provided the experimental validation by observing correlated insulating phases and superconductivity in magic-angle twisted bilayer graphene.
Reactions and Implications
- Deepto Chakrabarty, MIT physics department head, noted the potential for room-temperature superconductors.
- Jarillo-Herrero commented that the technique "was hard to pull off in the lab" and stressed the importance of supporting fundamental research, even without immediate near-term applications.
Background
Jarillo-Herrero is the Cecil and Ida Green Professor of Physics at MIT and a member of the Research Laboratory of Electronics. This award brings the total number of MIT faculty Kavli Prize recipients to nine.