Newcomb Cleveland Prize Recipients

2012 Recipient

The 2012 Newcomb Cleveland Prize is awarded to Vincent Mourik, Kun Zuo, Sergey M. Frolov, Sébastien R. Plissard, Erik P. A. M. Bakkers, and Leo P. Kouwenhoven for the report "Signatures of Majorana Fermions in Hybrid Superconductor-Semiconductor Nanowire Devices" published in Science 25 May 2012, pp. 1003-1007.

This paper provides experimental evidence for the presence of an exotic quasiparticle, the Majorana fermion. These particles, different from bosons and normal fermions that make up all matter, are equal to their own antiparticles. Such particles had only been predicted mathematically. Mourik et al. engineered a nanostructure of a superconductor in contact with a semiconductor wire that, when placed in a strong magnetic field, showed several features consistent with that predicted for the elusive Majorana state. Their results and approach have generated numerous follow-on experiments and work, and their design could allow for the manipulation of Majorana states, which, if verified, could lead to new types of quantum computing and other applications.

Past Recipients

2011

Waseem S. Bakr, Amy Peng, M. Eric Tai, Ruichao Ma, Jonathan Simon, Jonathon Isaiah Gillen, Simon Fölling, Lode Pollet, and Markus Greiner for the research article “Probing the Superfluid-to-Mott Insulator Transition at the Single-Atom Level,” published in Science 30 July 2010, pp. 547-550.

2010

Richard E. Green, Johannes Krause, Adrian W. Briggs, Tomislav Maricic, Udo Stenzel, Martin Kircher, Nick Patterson, Heng Li, Weiwei Zhai, Markus Hsi-Yang Fritz, Nancy F. Hansen, Eric Y. Durand, Anna-Sapfo Malaspinas, Jeffrey D. Jensen, Tomas Marques-Bonet, Can Alkan, Kay Prüfer, Matthias Meyer, Hernán A. Burbano, Jeffrey M. Good, Rigo Schultz, Ayinuer Aximu-Petri, Anne Butthof, Barbara Höber, Barbara Höffner, Madlen Siegemund, Antje Weihmann, Chad Nusbaum, Eric S. Lander, Carsten Russ, Nathaniel Novod, Jason Affourtit, Michael Egholm, Christine Verna, Pavao Rudan, Dejana Brajkovic, Željko Kucan, Ivan Gušic, Vladimir B. Doronichev, Liubov V. Golovanova, Carles Lalueza-Fox, Marco de la Rasilla, Javier Fortea, Antonio Rosas, Ralf W. Schmitz, Philip L. F. Johnson, Evan E. Eichler, Daniel Falush, Ewan Birney, James C. Mullikin, Montgomery Slatkin, Rasmus Nielsen, Janet Kelso, Michael Lachmann, David Reich, and Svante Pääbo for the research article “A Draft Sequence of the Neandertal Genome,” published in Science 7 May 2010, pp. 653-776.

2009

Paul Kalas, James R. Graham, Eugene Chiang, Michael P. Fitzgerald, Mark Clampin, Edwin S. Kite, Karl Stapelfeldt, Christian Marois, and John Krist for the research article “Optical Images of an Exosolar Planet 25 Light-Years from Earth,” published in Science 28 November 2008, pp. 1345-1348
and
Christian Marois, Bruce Macintosh, Travis Barman, B. Zuckerman, Inseok Song, Jennifer Patience, David Lafrenière, and René Doyon for the research article “Direct Imaging of Multiple Planets Orbiting the Star HR 8799,” published in Science 28 November 2008, pp. 1348-1352.

2008

Anoop Kumar, James W. Godwin, Phillip B. Gates, A. Acely Garza-Garcia, and Jeremy P. Brockes for the research article "Molecular Basis for the Nerve Dependence of Limb Regeneration in an Adult Vertebrate," published in Science 2 November 2007, pp. 772-777.

2007

Hani M. El-Kaderi, Joseph R. Hunt, José L. Mendoza-Cortés, Adrien P. Côté, Robert E. Taylor, Michael O'Keeffe, and Omar M. Yaghi for the report "Designed Synthesis of 3D Covalent Organic Frameworks," published in Science on 13 April 2007, pp. 268—272.

2006

Jason R. Petta, Alexander C. Johnson, Jacob M. Taylor, Edward A. Laird, Amir Yacoby, Mikhail D. Lukin, Charles M. Marcus, Micah P. Hanson, Arthur C. Gossard for the research article "Coherent Manipulation of Coupled Electron Spins in Semiconductor Quantum Dots," published online in Science Express 1 September 2005, published in print 30 September 2005, pp. 2180-2184.

2005

David D. Awschalom, Yuichiro K. Kato, Roberto C. Myers, and Arthur C. Gossard for the research article "Observation of the Spin Hall Effect in Semiconductors," published in Science, 10 December 2004, pp. 1910-1913. At the time of publication, the authors' affiliation was the Center for Spintronics and Quantum Computation, University of California, Santa Barbara. Currently, Kato is at Stanford University.

2004

Brian Kuhlman, Gautam Dantas, Gregory C. Ireton, Gabriele Varani, Barry L. Stoddard and David Baker for "Design of a Novel Globular Protein Fold with Atomic-Level Accuracy," published in Science 21 November 2003.

2003

Thomas A. Volpe, Catherine Kidner, Ira M. Hall, Grace Teng, Shiv I.S. Grewal and Robert A. Martienssen for the research article "Regulation of Heterochromatic Silencing and Histone H3 Lysine-9 Methylation by RNAi," published in Science, 13 September 2002, pp. 1833-1837

and

Ira M. Hall, Gurumurthy D. Shankaranarayana, Ken-ichi Noma, Nabieh Ayoub, Amikam Cohen and Shiv I.S. Grewal for the research article "Establishment and Maintenance of a Heterochromatin Domain," published in Science, 27 September 2002, pp. 2232-2236

2002

Mariana Lagos-Quintana, Reinhard Rauhut, Winfried Lendeckel, and Thomas Tuschl for the report "Identification of Novel Genes Coding for Small Expressed RNAs," published in Science, 26 October 2001;

Nelson C. Lau, Lee P. Lim, Earl G. Weinstein, and David P. Bartel for the report "An Abundant Class of Tiny RNAs with Probable Regulatory Roles in Caenorhabditis elegans," published in Science, 26 October 2001;

and

Rosalind C. Lee and Victor Ambros for the report, "An Extensive Class of Small RNAs in Caenorhabditis elegans," published in Science, 26 October 2001.

2000-2001

Nenad Ban, Poul Nissen, Jeffrey Hansen, Peter B. Moore, and Thomas A. Steitz for the research article "The Complete Atomic Structure of the Large Ribosomal Subunit at 2.4 Å Resolution," published in Science, 11 August 2000;

Poul Nissen, Jeffrey Hansen, Nenad Ban, Peter B. Moore, and Thomas A. Steitz for the research article "The Structural Basis for Ribosome Activity in Peptide Bond Synthesis," published in Science, 11 August 2000;

and

Marat M. Yusupov, Gulnara Gh. Yusupova, Albion Baucom, Kate Lieberman, Thomas N. Earnest, J.H.D. Cate, and Harry F. Noller for the research article "Crystal Structure of the Ribosome at 5.5 Å Resolution," published in Science, 4 May 2001.

1999-2000

Mark D. Adams, Susan E. Celniker, Gerald M. Rubin and J. Craig Venter for the review "The Genome Sequence of Drosophilia melanogaster," 24 March 2000.

1998-1999

Norman Murray and Matthew Holman for the research article "The Origin of Chaos in the Outer Solar System," 19 March 1999.

1997-1998

Declan A. Doyle, João Morais Cabral, Richard A. Pfuetzner, Anling Kuo, Jacqueline M. Gulbis, Steven L. Cohen, Brian T. Chait and Roderick MacKinnon for the research article "The Structure of the Potassium Channel: Molecular Basis of K+ Conduction and Selectivity," 3 April, 1998;

and

Roderick MacKinnon, Steven L. Cohen, Anling Kuo, Alice Lee and Brian T. Chait for the report "Structural Conservation in Prokaryotic and Eukaryotic Potassium Channels," 3 April 1998.

1996-1997

Nicholas C. Wrighton, Francis X. Farrell, Ray Chang, Arun K. Kashyap, Francis Barbone, Linda S. Mulcahy, Dana L. Johnson, Ronald W. Barrett, Linda K. Jolliffe and William J. Dower for the research article "Small peptides as Potent Mimetics of the Protein Hormone Erythropoietin," 26 July 1996;

and

Oded Livnah, Enrico A. Stura, Dana L. Johnson, Steven A. Middleton, Linda S. Mulcahy, Nicholas C. Wrighton, William J. Dower, Linda K. Jolliffe and Ian A. Wilson for the research article "Functional Mimicry of a Protein Hormone by a Peptide Agonist: The EPO receptor Complex at 2.8 Å," 26 July 1996.

For a complete listing of past Newcomb Cleveland Prize recipients, please see the AAAS Archives.

For More Information

Awards Coordinator

Science Editorial Office

1200 New York Avenue, NW, Room 1044

Washington, DC 20005

Phone 202-326-6507

Fax 202-289-7562

E-mail: skihara@aaas.org