Professor Lars Samuelson, chair professor from the Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech), was awarded the Great Gold Medal on Thursday by the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences (IVA), the highest engineering science prize in Sweden, for his outstanding contributions to the field of nanomaterials.
Samuelson, born in 1948, is a Swedish physicist and professor in nanotechnology and semiconductor electronics at Lund University.
From March this year, Samuelson has been working as the director of SUSTech’s Institute of Nanoscience and Applications, a university-level scientific research institute established in 2022, which is focused on nanotechnology and application fields such as nanophotonics, nanoelectronics and nanobiomedicine.
SUSTech president Xue Qikun, at a celebration ceremony through video link Thursday evening, congratulated Samuelson for winning the award. He said the award reflected Samuelson’s years of work and dedication to nanoscience and nanotechnology applications.
Samuelson is one of the most outstanding scientists in the field of semiconductor nanomaterials, especially the growth of nanowires. His research has laid a foundation for the study of basic optics and the physical mechanism of carrier transport and promoted the development of nanomaterials application fields such as nanoelectronics, nanophotonics, solar cells and solid-state lighting.
After retiring from NanoLund, which he created 25 years ago, Samuelson had three alternatives, staying in Sweden, going to the U.S. or China. He finally decided to come to China as he wanted to learn about a country that has a long history and rich culture that he was not previously familiar with.
“SUSTech is a very young, dynamic and fast-growing university. It is my honor to join SUSTech and work with many young and excellent researchers. It has a valuable culture and scientific background. One of the reasons why I came to SUSTech is that Shenzhen is supposed to be the center of the world in terms of technology,” Samuelson said during an interview.
Founded in 1919, the IVA is the oldest engineering academy in the world. The Great Gold Medal issued by the academy is its highest honor, awarded to people who have carried out extraordinary work for social progress.