Penn physics professor wins international award. Could a Nobel Prize be next?

A University of Pennsylvania professor is being honored for his pioneering research in theoretical physics – the use of mathematical models to explain and predict natural phenomena.

Charles Kane will be awarded the prestigious Lorentz Medal, an honor bestowed once every four years by the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences. More than half of the award's recipients later have won Nobel Prizes, the academy says.

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Among other notable winners of the Lorentz Medal is Max Planck, who discovered energy packets called quanta, which are the foundation of quantum mechanics. He won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1918. MIT professor Frank Wilczek earned the medal for his research about quarks, the subatomic particles that are the smallest known building blocks of matter. Wilczek won the Nobel Prize in 2004.

Kane's research contributed to the discovery of a new type of material – one that can conduct electricity on its surface while its interior acts as an electrical insulator, known in quantum physics as a topological insulator.

His work led to the creation of new technologies that can be used in quantum computing, and he has been called by the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences a "founding father" in the research of topological insulators.

"The discovery of topological insulators is one of the greatest scientific advances of the past 25 years or more," Mark Trodden, dean of Penn's School of Arts and Sciences and a professor of physics and astronomy, said in a statement.

Kane, the 25th laureate of the Lorentz Medal, is also a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts & Sciences and has taught all levels of physics courses at Penn.

"This is an incredible honor," Kane said in a statement. "Being recognized at this level reminds me of the many things I have to be grateful for. I thank my collaborators as well as the broader community of scientists who helped to make a new generation of electronic materials come to life."

Kane has been considered a possible Nobel laureate for years. In 2014, he was chosen as a Thomson Reuters Citation Laureate. Winners of that award also are considered strong contenders for Nobel Prizes.

To date, there have been 30 Nobel laureates affiliated with the University of Pennsylvania. The most recent are medical school professors Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman who won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their pioneering mRNA research, which led to the creation of of the COVID-19 vaccines.

The Lorentz Medal will be awarded to Kane in a ceremony on Thursday, Dec. 11.

NOTE: This article was updated after it was originally published.