Jens Kehlet Nørskov is the twelfth in the series of prominent physicists and engineers to receive the medal, which was established in 1955 as a tribute to the Danish physicist, Niels Bohr.

Jens Kehlet Nørskov has a comprehensive scientific production behind him, and is one of the world’s most cited researchers within his field. Following a long professorship at Stanford University in California, in 2018 he returned to Denmark in order to build a new centre for catalyst theory at the Technical University of Denmark (DTU).

The focal point for Jens Nørskov’s research is understanding physical and chemical processes on the surfaces of materials. His concepts and models constitute an important basis for understanding heterogeneous catalysis and they are widely applied within science and industry.

To quote the recommendation for the winner: “Jens Nørskov’s work has enormous social significance. The development of new catalysts to convert energy from the sun into green fuels and chemicals is of the utmost importance in avoiding the extensive use of fossil fuels, which is so destructive for the environment and climate. Jens Nørskov is at the scientific forefront of such efforts”.

This is the first time a Dane has received the gold medal since Niels Bohr himself received it in 1955. The award means that Jens Nørskov joins a prominent group of recipients, as over the years the medal has been given to no fewer than nine Nobel laureates.

This year’s award was a collaboration between the Danish Society of Engineers, IDA, the Niels Bohr Institute, the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters, and the Carlsberg Foundation, which has donated the EUR 100,000 that come with the medal.

Read more about the medal here.