The University of Delaware invites nominations for the Karl W. Böer Medals, recognizing “extraordinary, valuable and enduring contributions to the fields of solar energy, wind energy or other forms of renewable energy.”

Two medals will be awarded for 2025: The traditional award to “a world-renowned individual” carries a $100,000 prize; the award to a mid-career individual making “significant contributions with promise for enduring impact” includes a $25,000 prize. 

Nominations are due by no later than Aug. 1, 2025, using the application on the Research Office webpage.

The prestigious medals are named in honor of the late Karl Wolfgang Böer, Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Physics and Solar Energy at UD. A champion for the development of solar energy technology, Böer founded the Institute of Energy Conversion (IEC) at UD in 1972. It is now regarded as the longest continuously operating solar research institute in the world. 

Böer, who served as the institute’s chief scientist, and his team, including the late Maria Telkes, an inductee of the National Inventors Hall of Fame, were responsible for the creation of Solar One — the first house to harvest solar energy in a total system approach, with solar-generated heat and electricity. The experimental house was featured in media around the world after its opening in 1973. The results are detailed, along with a broad variety of other information, in the Karl Wolfgang Böer Papers housed in the UD Library.

Through Böer’s visionary leadership, IEC grew from a small research group into a major research and training facility that today has a significant history of scientific advances, student education and industry collaboration. The institute celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2022.

Böer continued to be an advocate for renewable energy until his passing in 2018. The medals he endowed through the Karl W. Böer Solar Energy Medal of Merit Award Trust, established at UD in 1991, will continue to honor renewable energy pioneers. 

“Dr. Böer had a deep commitment to advancing solar energy,” said William Shafarman, director of IEC and chair of the Karl W. Böer Solar Energy Medals Trust. “Thanks to his vision, the Böer Medals continue to recognize leaders around the globe who are working toward a renewable energy future.”

Past recipients of the Böer Medal include world leaders, Nobel laureates, Einstein Award winners and directors of research institutes in the U.S. and abroad. Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter was the first awardee in 1993.