Mildred Dresselhaus was awarded the 2012 Kavli prize in Nanoscience for her work on carbon-based nanostructures and nanoscale electron-phonon interaction. Back in the 1960s, Dresselhaus led one of the very first groups that explored the carbon materials that form the basis for 2D graphene and 1D carbon nanotubes.
Dresselhaus studied intercalated two-dimensional graphene sheets and provided important insights into the properties of not only 2D graphene, but also of the rich interactions between graphene and the surrounding materials. She also pioneered Raman spectroscopy as a sensitive tool for the characterization of materials one atomic layer in wall thickness, namely carbon nanotubes and graphene.
The Kavli Prize was established in 2005 in Norway, and the first prize was awarded in 2008. They award three prizes every two years in the fields of astrophysics, nanoscience and neuroscience. Each winner gets a gold medal and one million US dollar in cash.