About the Department
Honors by Faculty
This list isn't comprehensive. It has been compiled from information provided by the faculty and from University press releases. The Physics Department staff updates the list when they learn of new (or omitted) honors, so please email additions to the web editor.
Links go to faculty research descriptions.
Isaac Abella
Quantrell Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching, 1969
Fellow, American Physical Society, 1984
David Biron
Magna Cum Laude, B.A. Physics and Computer Sciences 1996
Intel-Dean Prize 1997
Magna Cum Laude, M.Sc. Physics 1998
Menashe Millo Memorial Prize 2003
Rothschild Fellow, 2005
Cross-Disciplinary Fellow, Human Frontier Science Program 2005-08
Interfaces Scholar Award, HHMI 2006
Human Frontiers of Science Program Career Development Award 2008
Burroughs Wellcome Fund Career Award at the Scientific Interface 2008
Edward Blucher
Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Fellowship, 1994
DOE Outstanding Junior Investigator, 1994
NSF Young Investigator Award, 1994
Fellow, American Physical Society, 2006
Florencia Canelli
URA Thesis Award, Fermilab 2004
Frederick Lobkowicz Thesis Prize, University of Rochester, 2004
Mitsuyoshi Tanaka Award, American Physical Society, 2005
Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Fellow, 2009
Marcela Carena
John Stewart Bell Fellow, 1993
Marie Curie Fellow, 1996
Fellow, American Physical Society 2002
John Carlstrom
Packard Fellow, David and Lucile Packard Foundation, 1994
NASA Medal for Exceptional Scientific Achievement, 1997
John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Fellow, 1998
James S. McDonnell Centennial Fellowship, 1999
American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 2000
S. Chandrasekhar Distinguished Service Professor, 2001
Member, National Academy of Sciences, 2002
Robertson Memorial Lecture Prize, The National Academies, 2004
Megellanic Premium, American Philosophical Society, 2004
Beatrice M. Tinsley Prize, American Astronomical Society, 2006
Cheng Chin
Lise Meitner Fellowship, 2003 & 2004
Visiting professor, Universität Innsbruck, Austria 2003
Outstanding Young Researcher Award, OCPA 2006
Alfred P. Sloan Fellow, 2006
Packard Fellow, David and Lucile Packard Foundation, 2007
CAREER Grant, National Science Foundation, 2008
Young Scientist Prize in AMO Physics, International Union of Pure and Applied Physics, 2008
Juan Collar
Research Innovation Award 2002, Research Corporation
CAREER Grant, National Science Foundation, 2002
Albert Crewe
"Chicagoan of the Year in Science," Chicago Junior Chamber of Commerce, 1962
Immigrants Service League's Annual Award for Outstanding
Achievement in the Field of Science, 1962
Outstanding New Citizen, Citizenship Council of Chicago, 1962
Honorary Degree, The University of Missouri, 1967
Honorary Degree, Lake Forest College, 1968
Honorary Degree, Elmhurst College, 1969
Industrial Research "Man of the Year," 1970
National Academy of Sciences, 1972
Electron Microscopy Society of America's Distinguished Service Award, 1976
Albert A. Michelson Medal of the Franklin Institute, 1977
William Wrather Distinguished Service Professor, 1978
Ernst Abbe Award, N.Y. Microscope Society, 1979
Duddell Medal, The Institute of Physics, London, 1980
American Academy of Arts and Sciences
Honorary Member, Royal Microscopial Society, 1984
Honorary Fellow, Electron Microscope Society of China, 1989
Honorary Degree, University of Liverpool, 2001
James Cronin
Research Corporation Award, 1968
National Academy of Sciences, 1970
University Professor of Physics, 1971
John Price Wetherill Medal of the Franklin Institute, 1975
Ernest O. Lawrence Award, Energy Research & Development Administration, 1977
Nobel Prize for Physics, 1980
Laureate, Lincoln Academy of Illinois (Medal of the Order of Lincoln), 1981
American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 1982
Ryerson Lecturer, 1990
Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Fellowship, 1992
Quantrell Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching, 1994
Docteur honoris causa, l'Université Pierre et Marie Curie, 1994
Honorary degree, University of Leeds, 1996
Member, American Philosophical Society, 1999
National Medal of Science, 1999
Foreign Member, Russian Academy of Sciences, 2003
Foreign Fellow, Royal Society of London, 2007
Dean Eastman
Oliver E. Buckley Prize, American Physical Society, 1980
American Physical Society, 1981
National Academy of Sciences, 1982
National Academy of Engineering, 1988
American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 1991
Peter Freund
Fellow, American Physical Society
Honorary degree, the West University of Timisoara, Rumania, 1996
Henry Frisch
Fellow, American Physical Society, 1986
Quantrell Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching, 1992
Divisional Councillor, Particles and Fields,
American Physical Society Council, 1996-98
Margaret Gardel
Jane Coffin Childs Memorial Fund Fellow, 2005
Burroughs Wellcome Career Award, 2006
NIH Director's Pioneer Award, 2007
Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Fellow, 2008
Packard Fellow, David and Lucile Packard Foundation, 2008
Stuart Gazes
Presidential Young Investigator, NSF, 1987
Robert Geroch
Quantrell Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching, 1980
Burlington Northern Faculty Achievement Award, 1990
Ilya Gruzberg
Alfred P. Sloan Fellow, 2004
NSF CAREER Award, 2005
Philippe Guyot-Sionnest
Prix National des Lasers, Société Française de Physique, 1990
Packard Fellow, David and Lucile Packard Foundation, 1992
Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellow, 1996
Jeffrey Harvey
Presidential Young Investigator, NSF, 1987
Fellow, American Physical Society, 1992
Louis Block Professor, 1998
Honorary Degree, University of Minnesota, 2002
Enrico Fermi Distinguished Service Professor, 2003
Member, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 2004
Roger Hildebrand
Quantrell Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching, 1960
Guggenheim Fellow, 1968-69
Samuel K. Allison Distinguished Service Professor, 1987
Fellow, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 1991
Norman Maclean Faculty Award, 1999
Richard Hill
Feynman Award, Cornell University 1997
Heinrich Jaeger
Fulbright Scholarship, 1980-81
Packard Foundation Fellowship, 1991
Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Fellow, 1992
Cottrell Scholar, Research Corporation, 1994
Outstanding Achievement Award, University of Minnesota, 2002
Fellow, American Physical Society 2002
Quantrell Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching, 2006
Leo Kadanoff
Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Fellow, 1962-67
Oliver E. Buckley Prize, American Physical Society, 1977
National Academy of Sciences, 1978
Wolf Foundation Award, 1980
Fellow, American Physical Society American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 1982
John D. MacArthur Distinguished Service Professor, 1982
Elliott Cresson Medal, The Franklin Institute, 1986
Boltzmann Medal, International Union of Pure and Applied Physics, 1989
Quantrell Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching, 1990
Centennial Medal, Harvard University, 1990
Member, American Philosophical Society, 1997
Lars Onsager Prize, American Physical Society, 1998
Grande Medaille d'Or, Academie des Sciences de l'Institut de France, 1998
National Medal of Science, 1999
Ryerson Lecturer, 2000
Honorary Doctor in Science, University of Copenhagen, 2000
Onsager Medal and Lectureship, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, 2003
Lorentz Professorship, Leiden, The Netherlands, 2003-2004
Lorentz Medal, Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences, 2006
Woowon Kang
Packard Fellow, David and Lucile Packard Foundation, 1995
Guggenheim Fellow, 2005
Kwang-Je Kim
International Free Electron Laser Award, 1998
Young-Kee Kim
Alfred P. Sloan Fellow, 1997
Fellow, American Physical Society, 2004
Ho-Am Prize, 2005
David Kutasov
Outstanding Junior Investigator Award, Department of Energy, 1993
Kathryn Levin
Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Fellow, 1976
Fellow, American Physical Society, 1991
Riccardo Levi-Setti
Prize of the City of Como, Italian Physical Society, 1953
Guggenheim Fellow, 1963
Fellow, American Physical Society, 1962
Jacquet-Lucas Award for Excellence in Metallography (with Kamal Soni),
International Metallographic Society, 1995
Commendatore dell'Ordine al "Merito della Republica Italiana," 1995
Leonardo da Vinci Award of the Order Sons of Italy in America, 2002
Charles Sternberg Award of the Association of Applied Paleontological Sciences, 2008
Zheng-Tian Lu
U. S. Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, 2000
U. S. DOE Office of Science Early Career Scientist and Engineer Award, 2000
Fellow, American Physical Society, 2006
Francis M. Pipkin Award, American Physical Society, 2009
Emil Martinec
Presidential Young Investigator Award, NSF, 1987
Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Fellow, 1987
Outstanding Junior Investigator, DOE, 1987
Gene Mazenko
Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Fellow, 1977
Fellow, American Physical Society, 1987
Frank Merritt
Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Fellow, 1983
Quantrell Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching, 1987
Fellow, American Physical Society, 1997
Peter Meyer
Quantrell Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching, 1971
Fellow, American Physical Society
Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science
Alexander von Humboldt Award, Federal Republic of Germany, 1984
Member, National Academy of Sciences, 1989
Dietrich Müller
Yodh Prize, International Cosmic Ray Conference, 2009
Fellow, American Physical Society
Alexander von Humboldt Award, Germany, 1997
Sidney Nagel
Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Fellow, 1979-81
Fellow, American Physical Society, 1988
Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science, 1993
Quantrell Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching, 1996
American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 1997
Louis Block Professor, 1998
Paul Klopsteg Prize, American Association of Physics Teachers, 1998
Oliver E. Buckley Prize, American Physical Society, 1999
Stein-Freiler Distinguished Service Professor, 2001
Member, National Academy of Sciences, 2003
Yoichiro Nambu
Dannie Heineman Prize for Mathematical Physics, 1970
National Academy of Sciences, 1971
American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 1971
J. Robert Oppenheimer Prize, 1976
Order of Culture awarded by Government of Japan, 1978
Harry Pratt Judson Distinguished Service Professor, 1978
National Medal of Science, 1982
Japan Academy (Honorary Member), 1984
Max Planck Medal, 1985
Dirac Medal, International Center for Theoretical Physics, Trieste, 1986
Honorary Doctor of Science, Northwestern University, 1987
J. J. Sakurai Prize, American Physical Society, 1994
Wolf Foundation Prize in Physics, 1994-95
Gian Carlo Wick Commemorative Medal, World Federation of Scientists, 1995
Honorary degree, Osaka University, 1996
Foreign Fellow, Georgian Academy of Sciences, 1996
N. Bogoliubov Prize, Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, 2003
Benjamin Franklin Medal, 2005
Nobel Prize for Physics, 2008
Reinhard Oehme
Guggenheim Fellow, 1963-64
Humboldt Award, 1974
Fellow, Japanese Society for the Promotion of Science, 1976, 1988
Piermaria Oddone
Fellow, American Physical Society
Fellow, American Academy of Arts and Sciences
Panofsky Prize, American Physical Society, 2005
Mark Oreglia
Presidential Young Investigator Award, 1985
Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Fellow, 1986
Quantrell Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching, 2001
Eugene Parker
Space Science Award, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, 1962
National Academy of Sciences, 1967
John Fleming Award, American Geophysical Union, 1969
Henry Arctowski Medal, National Academy of Sciences, 1969
Honorary D.Sc., Michigan State University, 1975
George Ellery Hale Award, American Astronomical Society, 1978
Sydney Chapman Medal, Royal Astronomical Society, 1979
Distinguished Alumnus Award, California Institute of Technology, 1980
Doctor Honoris Causa, University of Utrecht, Netherlands, 1986
James Arthur Prize Lecture, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 1986
S. Chandrasekhar Distinguished Service Professor, 1987
Elected to Det Norske Videnskaps-Akademi,
The Norwegian Academy of Science & Letters, 1988
National Medal of Science, 1989
William Bowie Medal, American Geophysical Union, 1990
Karl Schwarzschild Medal, Astronomischen Gessellschaft, 1990
Gold Medal, Royal Astronomical Society, 1992
Ryerson Lecturer, 1997
Catherine Wolfe Bruce Gold Medal, The Astronomical Society of the Pacific, 1997
James Clerk Maxwell Prize, American Physical Society, 2003
Kyoto Prize in Basic Sciences, Inamori Foundation, 2003
James Pilcher
Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Fellow, 1972-76
Fellow, American Physical Society, 1988
Thomas Rosenbaum
Presidential Young Investigator Award, NSF, 1984
Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Fellow, 1984
William L. McMillan Prize, 1986
James Franck Professor, 2001
John T. Wilson Distinguished Service Professor, 2004
Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science, 2005
Jonathan Rosner
Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Fellow, 1971-73
Fellow, American Physical Society, 1981
Faculty Award for Excellence in Graduate Teaching, 1996
John Simon Guggenheim Foundation Fellow, 2002
Robert Rosner
William E. Wrather Distinguished Service Professor, 1998
Fellow, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 2001
Member, Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters, 2004
Robin Santra
Young Scientist Prize in AMO Physics, International Union of Pure and Applied Physics, 2007
Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, 2007
U. S. DOE Office of Science Early Career Scientist and Engineer Award, 2007
John Schiffer
Guggenheim Fellow, 1959-60
Fellow, American Physical Society, 1968
Humboldt Foundation Award, Technical University of Munich, 1973
Tom W. Bonner Prize in Nuclear Physics, American Physical Society, 1976
Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science, 1984
Wilbur Cross Medal, Yale University, 1985
Member, National Academy of Sciences, 1987
Foreign member, Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters, 1996
Fellow, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 1998
Doctor of Science (Honorary), University of Notre Dame, 1999
Savdeep Sethi
Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Fellowship, 2001
CAREER Grant, National Science Foundation, 2001
Melvyn Shochet
Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Fellow, 1978-82
Quantrell Award For Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching, 1978
Fellow, American Physical Society, 1989
Elaine M. and Samuel D. Kersten, Jr. Professor in the Physical Sciences, 1995
Kersten Distinguished Service Professor, 2002
Fellow, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 2005
Member, National Academy of Sciences, 2006
Simon Swordy
George E. Ehlenbeck Visiting Prof. of Physics, University of Michigan, 1991
James Franck Professor, 2003
Michael Turner
NSF Fellow, 1971-74
Compton Lecturer, 1980
Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Fellow, 1983
Quantrell Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching, 1983
Helen B. Warner Prize, American Astronomical Society, 1984
Fellow, American Physical Society, 1986
Gravity Research Foundation Essay Competition, First Award, 1991
Fellow, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 1996
Julius Edgar Lilienfeld Prize, American Physical Society, 1997
National Academy of Sciences, 1997
Bruce V. & Diana M. Rauner Distinguished Service Professor, 1998
Paul Klopsteg Prize, American Association of Physics Teachers, 1999
Gravity Research Foundation Essay, 2nd Prize, 1999
Carlos Wagner
Fellow, American Physical Society, 2008
Yah Wah
Compton Lecturer, 1986
DOE Outstanding Young Investigator, 1988
Scott Wakely
Compton Lecturer, 2002
Career Grant, National Science Foundation, 2007
Robert Wald
Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, 1976
Fellow, American Physical Society, 1996
Faculty Award for Excellence in Graduate Teaching, 1997
Fellow, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 2000
National Academy of Sciences, 2001
Charles A. Swift Distinguished Service Professor, 2002
Paul Wiegmann
Lady Davis Fellowship, 2000
Humboldt Research Award, Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, 2002
Fellow, American Physical Society, 2003
Kramers Chair, Spinoza Institute, 2003
Chaires Blaise Pascal, Ile de France, 2006
Bruce Winstein
Fellow, American Physical Society, 1986
National Academy of Sciences, 1995
Samuel K. Allison Distinguished Service Professor, 1997
Guggenheim Fellow, 1999-2000
Hans Bethe Lecturer, Cornell University, 2003-04
Panofsky Prize in Experimental Particle Physics, 2007
Fellow, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 2007
Thomas Witten
Case Centennial Scholar Award, Case Western Reserve University, 1980
Fellow, American Physical Society, 1988
Polymer Physics Prize, American Physical Society, 2002
Fellow, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 2002
Homer J. Livingston Professor, 2007
S. Courtenay Wright
Fellow, American Physical Society
Wendy Zhang
Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Fellow, 2006
