PHOTON International - The Photovoltaic Magazine

The Australian PV researcher Martin Green will have to clear some space on his already crowded trophy sideboard. On Feb. 26, he was chosen as the recipient of the 2003 Karl Böer Solar Energy Medal of Merit from the University of Delaware (UD), USA. Green will receive the medal and $40,000 USD for his »significant pioneering contributions to the promotion of solar energy« at the award presentation on April 28 at UD.

	© Lisa Giles / UNSW
Time to celebrate again: Martin Green, who was awarded the Alternative Nobel Prize in 2002, will now receive the Karl Böer Solar Energy Medal of Merit.

As director of the Centre for Photovoltaic Engineering at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia, professor Green is well-known for his latest project to develop a »third-generation« high-efficiency, thin-film, non-toxic cell technology. Under Green's leadership, his Australian research teams have broken several efficiency records for conventional crystalline silicon cells, as well as invented a thin-film crystalline silicon cell that led to the establishment of the university spin-off Pacific Solar Pty Ltd, which is dedicated to the development and commercialization of the new technology.

Green is one of the current holders of the Alternative Nobel Prize 2002 (see PI 11/2002, p. 30). Other awards he has received in the past include the 1990 IEEE William R. Cheery award, the 1999 Australian Prize, and a Humboldt Senior Scientist Award in 2001 in recognition of a lifetime of achievements in science.

The Böer Award is given every two years in honor of Karl Wolfgang Böer, a professor emeritus and founder of the Institute of Energy Conversion at UD. Former recipients are US President Jimmy Carter, who received the first award in 1993; David Carlson, inventor of the a-Si cell (1995); Adolf Goetzberger, founder of the German solar research institute Fraunhofer ISE (1997); Stan Ovshinsky, president and CEO of Energy Conversion Devices (ECD) and United Solar Systems Corp. (1999); and Allen Barnett, president and CEO of AstroPower Inc. (2001).