Two MIT Faculty Win Presidential Medal of Freedom

The White House announced earlier today that Institute Professors Mildred Dresselhaus HM ’86 and Robert Solow HM ’90 will receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor. The professors are part of a group of 19 recipients who will be honored at a White Ceremony on November 24, 2014.

Dresselhaus, who joined the MIT faculty in 1967, is known as the “Queen of Carbon Science” with nearly 60 years of research in condensed matter, materials physics, and multi-faceted forms of carbon. She received the National Medal of Science in 1990 and was previously honored by President Obama with the Enrico Fermi Award in 2012.

“President Obama Names Recipients of the Presidential Medal of Freedom,” Office of the White House Press Secretary

“Mildred Dresselhaus is one of the most prominent physicists, materials scientists, and electrical engineers of her generation.  A professor of physics and electrical engineering at MIT, she is best known for deepening our understanding of condensed matter systems and the atomic properties of carbon, which has contributed to major advances in electronics and materials research.”

Solow, who joined the MIT faculty in 1949, is an economist whose work on the theory of economic growth resulted in the eponymous Solow–Swan model, an economic model developed in 1956 that explains economic growth through capital accumulation, labor growth, population growth, and productivity. He was awarded the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences  in 1987 and the National Medal of Science in 1999.

“President Obama Names Recipients of the Presidential Medal of Freedom,” Office of the White House Press Secretary

“Robert Solow is one of the most widely respected economists of the past sixty years. His research in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s transformed the field, laying the groundwork for much of modern economics.  He continues to influence policy makers, demonstrating how smart investments, especially in new technology, can build broad-based prosperity, and he continues to actively participate in contemporary debates about inequality and economic growth.  He is a Nobel laureate, winning the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences in 1987.”

Read more about  Dresselhaus and Solow on MIT News.