AMT award for 2019 - to Prof. Moti Segev from the Technion

The award is given under the auspices of the Prime Minister for excellence and academic or professional achievements that have a far-reaching impact and for a special contribution to society

Research Prof. Moti Segev from the Faculty of Physics at the Technion is the recipient of the AMT Prize in the field of Physics and Space for 2019. The prize is given under the auspices of the Prime Minister for excellence and academic or professional achievements that have a far-reaching impact and for a special contribution to society.

Research Prof. Segev, 60, is the head of the Robert Shilman Chair in the Faculty of Physics, one of the founders of the Helen Diller Quantum Center for Science, Engineering and Materials. He was born in Romania, immigrated to Israel at the age of 3, grew up in Haifa, served in the IDF as an infantry officer and for many years in the reserves as commander of a patrol unit. After the army, he began studying at the Technion and completed a bachelor's degree and a doctorate in a direct track at the Viterbi Faculty of Electrical Engineering. After a post-doctorate at Caltech University, he was a professor at Princeton University. In 1998 he returned to Israel and to the Technion as a faculty member in the Faculty of Physics. In 2009 he received the rank of research professor, which is given for exceptional research excellence and is reserved for a few researchers at the Technion.

Research Prof. Segev is a pioneering physicist in the field of optics and lasers and his scientific works are cited in tens of thousands of scientific articles. The awards he received include the prestigious award in quantum electronics (the most important European award in the field of optics and lasers) which he won in 2007, the Max Born Award from the American Optical Society (2009) and the Arthur Shvalov Award in Laser Science for 2014. He is a member of the American Academy of Sciences, a member of the Israeli National Academy of Sciences and winner of the Israel Prize in Physics Research for 2014.

The research group headed by Research Prof. Segev focuses on experimental and theoretical projects in many fields including photonics, lasers and quantum electronics. The group is engaged both in researching basic scientific aspects that affect other fields of science (beyond photonics) and in developing applications that affect the world of technology.

In the past year (March 2018 – February 2019), Research Prof. Segev reported on seven different works, each of them groundbreaking in their field, published in one of the two leading scientific journals in the world, Nature and Science.

However, beyond all his personal achievements, Research Prof. Segev is proud of the success of his doctoral and post-doctoral students, 21 of whom are faculty members at universities in Israel and around the world and many others hold senior research and development positions in the industry. His students in the past who are now serving as faculty members at universities in Israel are the ones who submitted his nomination this year for the A.M.T. award.

The A.M.T. Award was given by the A.M.N. Foundation. For the promotion of science, culture and art in Israel for excellence and academic or professional achievements that have a far-reaching impact and a special contribution to society. The foundation was established in 1999 by the late Alberto Moscone Nissim, who stated that the AMT award was intended to "recognize those who have chosen excellence as a way of life and the realization of human potential as essential to creating a better world for future generations." This year's award committee includes Prof. Hagit Messer Yaron, Prof. Jacob Klein and Prof. Nir Shabiv.