Weizmann's Reshef Tenne, discoverer of inorganic nanotubes, wins Israel Prize

On 1 February 2026 Israel's Ministry of Education announced that Professor Reshef Tenne of the Weizmann Institute of Science would receive the 2026 Israel Prize in chemistry and chemical engineering research. The prize committee, chaired by Professor Yitzhak Mastai, called him one of the country's most important and prominent scientists. The award was presented at the state ceremony in Jerusalem around Independence Day in late April.

Tenne's name is tied to one of the surprising discoveries of modern materials science. In 1992 his group showed that layered inorganic compounds such as tungsten disulfide and molybdenum disulfide could curl up into closed cages and hollow tubes, much like the carbon fullerenes and carbon nanotubes that had recently caught the world's attention. These inorganic fullerene-like structures and inorganic nanotubes founded a new branch of nanochemistry, and Tenne has led it for more than three decades.

The work quickly moved beyond the laboratory. Tungsten disulfide nanoparticles behave like microscopic ball bearings, and they are now used in lubricants for industrial machinery. Tenne's nanotubes have also been shown to strengthen polymers and are being explored for medical devices and aerospace. The committee specifically credited his discoveries with helping Israeli industry, and praised his leadership in the study of single-layer, two-dimensional nanomaterials.

Tenne was born on Kibbutz Usha in the Zevulun Valley of northern Israel, earned his doctorate in theoretical chemistry at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and joined the Weizmann Institute in 1979. His earlier honours include the Landau Prize in nanotechnology (2006), the Rothschild Prize (2016) and the EMET Prize (2020), and he was elected to the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities in 2011.

The Israel Prize is the state's highest cultural and scientific award, given each year in rotating fields.