Federico Capasso - Awards and Honors

Awards and Honors

His honors include membership in the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the European Academy of Sciences and honorary membership in the Franklin Institute. In 2005 he received, jointly with Nobel Laureate Frank Wilczek (MIT) and Anton Zeilinger (University of Vienna), the King Faisal International Prize for Science for his research on quantum cascade lasers. The citation called him “one the most creative and influential applied physicists in the world.”

On behalf of the American Physical Society, he was awarded the 2004 Arthur L. Schawlow Prize in Laser Science, endowed by the NEC Corporation, for "seminal contributions to the invention and demonstration of the quantum cascade laser and the elucidation of its physics, which bridges quantum electronics, solid-state physics, and materials science."

In addition, the IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers), the world's largest technical professional organization, named Capasso the recipient of the 2004 IEEE Edison Medal with the following citation, "For a career of highly creative and influential contributions to heterostructure devices and materials."

He is also recipient of the Wetherill Medal of the Franklin Institute, the R. W. Wood prize of the Optical Society of America, the IEEE Laser and Electro-Optics Society W. Streifer Award for Scientific Achievement, the Materials Research Society Medal, the Rank Prize in Optoelectronics (UK), the Duddell Medal and Prize of the Institute of Physics (UK), The Willis Lamb Medal for Laser Science and Quantum Optics, the Newcomb Cleveland Prize of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Moet Hennessy and Lois Vuitton "Leonardo da Vinci" Prize (France), the Welker Memorial Medal (Germany), the New York Academy of Sciences Award, the IEEE David Sarnoff Award in Electronics, and the Goff Smith prize of the University of Michigan. In 2010 he received the Berthold Leibinger Zukunftspreis for research in applied laser technology and the Julius Springer Prize in Applied Physics. In 2011 he received the Jan Czochralski Medal of the European Materials Research society for his lifetime achievements in Materials Science.

He is a Fellow of the American Physical Society, the Institute of Physics (UK), the Optical Society of America, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, IEEE and SPIE. He holds honorary doctorates from Lund University, Sweden, the Diderot University (Paris VII), France, the University of Bologna, Italy and the University of Torvergata (Roma II), Italy