Graham Fleming, professor of chemistry at the College of Chemistry, was recently recognized by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory with a Director's Award for Exceptional Scientific Achievement. These awards recognize significant and outstanding scientific contributions from individuals or teams who have made major breakthroughs, advanced research in a field, or demonstrated exceptional leadership in a scientific project.
Professor Fleming was cited for "developing advanced multidimensional ultrafast spectroscopy and applying it to study light-matter interactions in photosynthetic and photocatalytic systems." As his nominator noted, Fleming has "dramatically expanded biophysical sciences at Berkeley Lab and demonstrated the importance of quantum coherence in biology."
The core idea here is that he developed very advanced, high-speed tools to prove that quantum mechanics is critical to how living things and future technologies efficiently use light energy. And while we don't directly interact with his tools or discoveries in everyday life, his work provides the essential, deep knowledge required by researchers today to create the highly efficient, sustainable energy and computing solutions that will shape our world in the coming decades.
View the list of all 2025 honorees.