2026 Kavli Prizes: Galactic Ghosts, Quantum Twists, and the Proteins That Rewire Your Brain

The 2026 astrophysics prize went to three galactic archaeologists who painstakingly reconstructed the Milky Way's turbulent growth. Their breakthrough was to show that our home galaxy did not form in quiet isolation but grew by devouring smaller satellite galaxies over billions of years, leaving behind a vast fossil record of ancient collisions .

Using precise measurements of the positions, motions, and chemical fingerprints of millions of stars—largely from the European Space Agency’s Gaia satellite—the team identified distinct stellar streams. These streams are the stretched, slowly dissolving remnants of dwarf galaxies torn apart by the Milky Way’s gravity . By tracing these streams across the sky, they mapped the galaxy's dark matter distribution, using the streams as sensitive gravitational probes . The work has turned stellar streams into a tool for weighing and mapping the invisible dark matter halo that envelops our galaxy .

According to the official announcement, the laureates represent nine different nationalities across three continents . Specific nationalities cited in the press room materials include Belokurov (UK), Helmi (Netherlands), and Ibata (France) .

Nanoscience: The Magic of a Slight Twist

Laureates: Eva Y. Andrei (Rutgers University, USA), Pablo Jarillo-Herrero (MIT, USA), Allan H. MacDonald (University of Texas at Austin, USA) .

Citation: "for foundational work that established the field of twistronics" .

In the nanocosm, the 2026 prize recognized a discovery that almost sounds like alchemy. The three physicists showed that stacking two atom-thin sheets of carbon (graphene) and rotating one relative to the other by a specific "magic angle" of approximately 1.1 degrees produces extraordinary electronic behaviors that are absent in the individual layers .

Allan MacDonald theoretically predicted in 2011 that twisting bilayer graphene at this precise angle would flatten the electrons' energy landscape, creating a playground for exotic quantum phenomena . Pablo Jarillo-Herrero and his team then demonstrated this experimentally in 2018, observing that the material could be tuned between acting as an insulator and a superconductor—conducting electricity with zero resistance—simply by changing the electron density . Eva Andrei provided foundational scanning-tunneling microscopy work that directly visualized how these electronic properties emerge from the twisted atomic landscape .

This field, now known as twistronics, has opened a new paradigm for materials engineering. Rather than relying on changing chemical composition, scientists can now force materials into new quantum states by controlling geometric twists, unlocking a path to more robust superconductors and novel electronic devices .

Neuroscience: Rewriting the Rules of Memory

Laureates: Christine Holt (University of Cambridge, UK), Kelsey C. Martin (Simons Foundation, USA), Erin Schuman (Max Planck Institute for Brain Research, Germany / UCL, UK), Oswald Steward (University of California, Irvine, USA) .

Citation: "for the discovery of local protein translation in neurons and establishing its importance for brain development and plasticity" .

The neuroscience prize upended a classic biological assumption. For decades, the prevailing dogma held that neurons produced all their proteins in the central cell body and then shipped them to the far-flung synapses where they were needed . This quartet of scientists proved that neurons have a far more elegant system: they locally manufacture the specific proteins needed for synaptic function right at the synapse itself .

This discovery is fundamental to understanding learning and memory. When a synapse is stimulated, rapid local protein synthesis allows that individual connection to strengthen or weaken without waiting for orders from the distant nucleus, providing the molecular basis for brain plasticity . The work of Holt, Martin, Schuman, and Steward collectively demonstrated that ribosomes, the cellular machines that build proteins, are stationed in dendrites and axons, and that this local synthesis is critical for the developing brain to wire itself correctly and for the adult brain to adapt to new experiences .

Each of the three Kavli Prizes honors work that changed a fundamental paradigm—how galaxies are built, how materials can be controlled, and how the brain remembers. The 2026 laureates will receive their $1 million awards at a ceremony in Oslo in September, presided over by the Norwegian Royal Family .