Masato Sagawa och Lise Meitner i ett collage

Masato Sagawa to receive the 2026 Lise Meitner Award

Published

16 March 2026

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The Gothenburg Physics Centre’s Lise Meitner Award committee proudly presents Dr. Masato Sagawa, pioneer of magnetic materials, as the laureate of the Gothenburg Lise Meitner Award 2026.

The Gothenburg Physics Centre’s Lise Meitner Award committee proudly presents Dr. Masato Sagawa, pioneer of magnetic materials, as the laureate of the Gothenburg Lise Meitner Award 2026!

He is awarded “for the discovery of sintered Nd–Fe–B permanent magnets, which transformed magnetic materials and enabled energy-efficient technologies.”

Dr. Sagawa made the decisive physics-based leap that enabled high-performance, anisotropic Nd–Fe–B sintered magnets. He showed how introducing a light interstitial element, boron, can expand the iron lattice and strengthen ferromagnetic exchange. This led to the Nd₂Fe₁₄B compound, combining exceptionally strong magnetic anisotropy with high magnetization. He also established the high-performance processing route based on powder metallurgy and grain alignment.

Today, Nd–Fe–B sintered magnets underpin modern electrification through high-efficiency motors and generators for electric vehicles and wind power. They have also enabled key advances in information technology, most notably by making compact, high-performance hard-disk-drive actuators and motors possible at scale.

Johan Åkerman (University of Gothenburg) nominated Dr. Masato Sagawa.

Award ceremony and symposium

The award ceremony and following lecture by the laureate will take place on September 10 at 15.15-16.30 in Kollektorn, Chalmers.

A symposium in the honour of the laureate will take place on September 11 at 9-17 in Kollektorn, Chalmers.

More information

About Lise Meitner

Lise Meitner was a researcher in Berlin from 1907 to 1938, when she was forced to flee to Sweden, where she came to work for 20 years. As a woman she was initially not allowed in the laboratories where men worked and later she had a hard time getting a regular academic position. With these qualifications, she was still one of the leading nuclear physicists in the world. After her escape to Sweden, she was the first to understand nuclear fission when she during a stay in Kungälv Christmas in 1938 , along with her nephew Otto Frisch, could explain the results that Otto Hahn, her colleague in Berlin, sent her.

Gothenburg Lise Meitner Award

The Gothenburg Lise Meitner Award is not only about awarding well merited physicists, but also to enrich the scientific environment in Gothenburg. People belonging to either of Gothenburg Physics Center's four departments can nominate for the award.

The award was established in 2006 by the Department of Physics at University of Gothenburg and holds the honor, a monetary prize of EUR 3000 and a piece of art. In conjunction with the award ceremony, that takes place in September every year, the laureate holds a lecture in memory of the nuclear physicist Lise Meitner.

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Event Science and Information Technology Press release