About the Award

The NAS Award for Scientific Discovery is presented every two years to recognize an accomplishment or discovery in basic research, achieved within the previous five years, that is expected to have a significant impact on one or more of the following fields: astronomy, biochemistry, biophysics, chemistry, materials science, or physics through the selection of recipients of the Award. The Award will rotate among these fields as determined by the NAS Council. To be eligible for an Award, a candidate must be a scientist at a university, college, or other research institution within the United States. This award is presented with a medal, a $50,000 prize, and $50,000 to support the recipient’s research.

Xiaodong Xu, University of Washington, will receive the 2025 NAS Award for Scientific Discovery.

Xu’s seminal work on the experimental observation of the fractional quantum anomalous Hall effect has provided key contributions to the field of condensed matter physics.

Xiaodong Xu 2025 NAS Award for Scientific Discovery Social

Xu’s research seeks to elucidate the emergent quantum phenomena of two-dimensional materials and heterostructures using device design, optical spectroscopy, and electrical transport measurements. He discovered the fractional quantum anomalous Hall effect in synthetic topological materials, revealing fractionalized electronic charge carriers without the application of a magnetic field. This discovery opens a new research frontier into interaction-driven topological phases and fractionized quantum matter. Xu’s work brings these exotic quantum states closer to real-world applications, especially in topological electronics, spintronics, and quantum computing.

Xu will be honored in a ceremony on Sunday, April 27 during the National Academy of Sciences’ 162nd annual meeting. The ceremony will be livestreamed.

Award History

Endowed in 2014 in honor of John P. Schaefer through a gift from the Research Corporation for Science Advancement (RCSA) and the Frederick Gardner Cottrell Foundation, the inaugural NAS Award for Scientific Discovery was presented in 2015 to Jonathan S. Weissman, investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and professor in the department of cellular and molecular pharmacology at the University of California, San Francisco, in the field of chemistry, biochemistry, or biophysics. In 2009, Weissman and colleagues at the University of California, San Francisco, developed a technique called ribosome profiling. With this technique, researchers can sequence the chunks of messenger RNA (mRNA) that ribosomes are decoding, giving a snapshot of the genes being translated within a cell. First applied to yeast, ribosome profiling has since been extended to many other organisms, including humans. It has been used to identify new proteins and peptides, investigate the process of translation, measure gene expression in cells and determine rates of protein synthesis. In addition, Weissman and his team have employed ribosome profiling to make important insights into the critical role that protein synthesis plays in cell growth and differentiation.

Most Recent Recipient
Xiaodong Xu
2025
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Award Types

Previous Award Recipients

Kevan M. Shokat
2023
Pablo Jarillo-Herrero
2021
Xiaowei Zhuang
2019
Gabriela González, David H. Reitze, and Peter R. Saulson
2017
Jonathan S. Weissman
2015