award Passion for Science
Edition 2026
Pedro Miguel Etxenique (Isaba, 1950) was one of the first students of the licentiate degree in Physical Sciences that the University of Navarra taught at the San Sebastian campus , where he graduated in 1972. He holds doctorates from the University of Cambridge and the Autonomous University of Barcelona. He is currently Full Professor Emeritus of Condensed subject Physics at the University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU.
Etxenique has been president of the Donostia International Physics Center and the CIC Nanogune. He is Honorary President of Jakiunde, the Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters of the Basque Country. He has devoted great effort to promote science as an economic and cultural activity, and to emphasize the importance of a scientifically informed society.
Etxenique is a former Education Advisor to the Basque Government. He has been overseas fellow at Churchill College and visiting professor at the Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge. He is a Fellow of the American Physical Society and the American association for the Advancement of Science and a member of the Real Academia de las Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales. He holds honorary doctor from the universities of Valladolid, Pública de Navarra, Complutense de Madrid, Aalto de Finlandia, Primada de América Autónoma de Santo Domingo and Autónoma de Madrid.
Among the many awards and prizes attributed to him in his professional degree program are the Prince of Asturias for Scientific and Technical research , Max Planck for Physics, "Xabier María de Munibe", Euskadi for research, "Dupont" for Science, Prince of Viana for Culture, CSIC Tree of Science award , Iberdrola award for Science and Technology, National Blas Cabrera Award for Physics, Materials and Earth Science, among others. He received the Gold Medal of the City of San Sebastian, the Gold Medal of the Royal Spanish Society of Physics, Gold Medal of Gipuzkoa and in 2016 the Gold Medal of Navarra. He was named Universal Basque of the Year in 1998. He is Favorite Son of the town of Isaba in Navarra.
