Robert Langer

After studying chemical engineering at Cornell University, Robert Langer completed postdoctoral studies in Medicine, thus setting out on a successful career in the area between biotechnology and materials science. Regarded as a pioneer in intelligent drug delivery and controlled growth of artificial tissues and organs, he is currently one of the nine Institute Professors at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where he continues his research on biopolymers. Author of more than 1,600 scientific articles and 1,500 patents, Langer is the most cited engineer in history. In 1999, Forbes magazine named him one of the world’s 25 most important individuals in the field of biotechnology. He has participated in the establishment of dozens of pharmaceutical companies, including Moderna, which was among those that developed vaccines for the treatment of COVID. Throughout his career, Robert Langer has received more than 220 awards, notable amongst which are the United States National Medal for Science (2006), the 2008 Millennium Prize, the world’s largest technology award, the United States National Medal of Technology and Innovation (2011), the Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering (2015), the BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award in Biology and Biomedicine (2021), and the Kavli Prize in Nanoscience (2024).