Professor Chad Mirkin received the 2022 Faraday Medal from The United Kingdom Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET). According to the IET’s official statement, Mirkin was honored “for inventing and developing many of the tools, techniques, and materials that have defined the modern age of nanotechnology,” at an event in London.
The award is recognized as one of the highest achievements an engineer or scientist can receive.
Mirkin is best known for his invention of spherical nucleic acids (SNAs) along with the development of biological and chemical diagnostic and the therapeutic systems and materials synthesis systems they provide.
Mirkin also is a pioneer in the field of artificial intelligence-based materials discovery, which involves the use of high throughput synthesis techniques combined with machine learning and unprecedentedly large and high-quality data sets — obtained from megalibraries of millions of positionally-encoded nanoparticles — to rapidly identify and evaluate new materials for applications in pharmaceuticals, clean energy, catalysis and other industries.
“It’s incredible,” Mirkin said. “The people that have won in the past constitute a who’s who list of those that have changed the world through science and engineering. When I look at the past recipients, the discoverer of the electron, the person who first split an atom, the inventor of the first computer, it’s an unbelievable history, an incredible honor, and I am obviously absolutely thrilled to be among that crew.”
Learn more in Northwestern Now’s article, “Chad Mirkin receives IET Faraday Medal for ‘contributions that helped define the modern age of nanotechnology.’”