The Israel Prize laureate for 2026 in the field of Chemistry Research and Chemical Engineering is Prof. Reshef Tenne of the Molecular Chemistry and Materials Science Department at the Weizmann Institute of Science. The announcement was made today by Minister of Education Yoav Kisch, on behalf of the prize committee chaired by Prof. Yitzhak Mastai, with committee members Prof. Ira Alan Weinstock, Prof. Michael Zinigrad and Prof. Irit Sagi. The prize will be awarded to Prof. Tenne at the traditional ceremony on the upcoming Independence Day.
“One of Israel’s most important and prominent scientists,” the Ministry of Education wrote in its announcement. “He has made an enormous contribution to materials science and to physical and inorganic chemistry, and for several decades has spearheaded a scientific revolution in the field of two-dimensional, single-layer nanomaterials. His work established Israel’s standing at the forefront of global scientific research.”
Over the course of fifty years of scientific activity, Prof. Tenne developed a new field in nanochemistry and materials science and led a series of groundbreaking studies on nanomaterials and their electrical, magnetic and optical properties. He discovered novel inorganic nanomaterials known as inorganic fullerene-like structures with a quasi-spherical shape, as well as inorganic nanotubes. Following these discoveries in 1992, Prof. Tenne became a pioneer and world leader in the field, and his findings have yielded substantial benefits for industry.
“”Prof. Tenne’s scientific discoveries have also contributed to the development of Israel’s industry in the fields of lubricants and nanomaterials”
Nanoparticles made of tungsten disulfide function as nanoscale ball bearings and have since become a material used for industrial machine lubrication. In addition, the nanotubes he discovered were shown to reinforce polymers and demonstrate significant potential for a wide range of applications in medical technologies and the aerospace industry. The prize committee noted the industrial impact of these achievements in its citation: “Prof. Tenne’s scientific discoveries have also contributed to the development of Israel’s industry in the fields of lubricants and nanomaterials.”
The committee further noted that throughout his career, Prof. Tenne has trained dozens of researchers and has served in key leadership positions within the chemical sciences.
Prof. Tenne joined the Weizmann Institute of Science in 1979. He was born in Kibbutz Usha, in the Zvulun Valley in northern Israel, and earned his PhD in theoretical chemistry from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Over the course of his career, he has received numerous prizes and honors for scientific and academic excellence, including the EMET Prize (2020), the Rothschild Prize (2016) and the Landau Prize of Mifal Hapais (Israel Lottery) in Nanotechnology (2006). In 2011, he was elected to the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities.