Three scientists have been named as recipients of the 2015 Bernd T. Matthias Prize for Superconducting Materials, an international prize awarded for innovative contributions to the field. This year’s winners are Xianhui Chen of the University of Science and Technology of China, Zachary Fisk of the University of California-Irvine and Zhongxian Zhao of the Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Science in Beijing.

Chen was recognized for his discovery of (Li,Fe)OHFe(Se,S), Yb_x(Me)_yHfNCl (Me= NH3 and THF), and doped phenanthrene, broadening the material base for superconducting studies.

Fisk was honored for the discovery of UBe₁₃, UPt₃, ThCoC₂ and LaRhSi₃, for unraveling the roles of heavy fermions and non-centrosymmetry in superconductivity.

Zhao was recognized for the discovery of RE(O,F) and (RE)O_1-xFeAs — RE stands for rare earth — with a transition temperature (Tc) up to 55K, demonstrating the limit of Tc in bulk Fe-based superconductors.

In addition to sharing the $6,000 prize, each winner will receive a framed certificate designed by Elsevier Publishers. The prize will be formally presented during the 2015 International Conference on Materials and Mechanisms of Superconductivity in Geneva, Switzerland, in August. All three, along with winners of the H. Kamerlingh Onnes Prize and the John Bardeen Prize, will make presentations after the ceremony.

The Bernd T. Matthias Prize for Superconducting Materials was created in 1989 by friends and colleagues of Bernd T. Matthias, a German-born physicist who immigrated to the US in 1947 and is noted for his discovery of nearly 1,000 superconducting materials. The Texas Center for Superconductivity at the University of Houston (TcSUH) has sponsored the prize since 2000. 2015 Matthias Prize Committee members include Chairman Paul Ching-Wu Chu, T.L.L. Temple Chair of Science at UH and founding director of TcSUH; Ivan Bozovic, Brookhaven National Laboratory; Guy Deutscher, Tel Aviv University; Hideo Hosono, Tokyo Institute of Technology; Hai-Hu Wen, Nanjing University; and Susan Butler, associate director of TcSUH and Matthias Prize coordinator.