Congratulations to Professor Emeritus John Holdren on being named the 2026 recipient of the American Institute of Physics’ (AIP) Karl Compton Medal.
Named after physicist Karl Taylor Compton, the medal is presented by AIP every two years to a highly distinguished physicist who has made outstanding contributions to physics through exceptional statesmanship in science. Holdren was recognized “for his scientific leadership in engaging the public and promoting sound governmental policies and key international agreements.”
Holdren was recruited by Professor Charles K. “Ned” Birdsall in 1972 as UC Berkeley’s first assistant professor of energy and resources. He taught courses in the early Energy and Resources program for two years while simultaneously developing a proposal to transform it into the Energy and Resources Group (ERG). Approval was granted in 1975, authorizing the program to admit students, offer courses, grant degrees, and host core faculty appointments.
For more than two decades, Holdren helped ERG grow by recruiting faculty and graduate students widely regarded as the “cream of the crop” who understood that solving the big problems of the future required strategies across multiple disciplines. Holdren’s research earned him not only one of the first MacArthur Fellowships but also led to his involvement with the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs. When the Pugwash Conferences were named co-recipient of the 1995 Nobel Peace Prize, Holdren, who was chair of Pugwash’s executive committee and “chief architect” of their public statements, accepted the award on its behalf.
After departing from Berkeley in 1996, Holdren accepted faculty positions at Harvard in both the Kennedy School of Government and the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences. Holdren also served as Chief Science and Technology Advisor to President Barack Obama and the Senate-confirmed director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) for eight years beginning in 2009. At OSTP, Holdren worked to keep the President up to date on science issues facing the nation around energy, climate change, industrial competitiveness, national security, public health, and more.
Learn more about the Compton Medal at the American Institute of Physics’ website.
