Cornell University chemistry professor Geoffrey Coates has been named a co-winner of the Balzan Prize for research that turns renewable materials and recovered carbon dioxide into degradable and recyclable polymers.
The international award carries about $930,000 for each subject prize, with half required to support research projects led by young scholars and scientists, Cornell announced.
Coates, the Tisch University Professor of chemistry and chemical biology in Cornell's College of Arts and Sciences, shares the honor with Marc A. Hillmyer of the University of Minnesota. The prize recognizes their work in biodegradable polymers from renewable sources.
The award committee credited the researchers with combining molecular design and catalysis to create high-performance materials from renewable feedstocks and recovered carbon dioxide. It also cited their work moving the underlying science toward industrial materials and technologies.
Coates' research spans organic, inorganic and materials chemistry. Cornell said the broader applications include safer polymers and chemical synthesis, use of renewable resources, and economical approaches to energy storage and conversion.
Coates said the prize reflects nearly three decades of work by students, postdoctoral researchers, colleagues and collaborators. He said the required support for younger researchers will help his group pursue new questions in sustainable plastics.
Chemistry department chair Tristan Lambert said Coates' work has helped move sustainable materials research from early ideas toward industrially relevant solutions. Cornell described the award as recognition of both fundamental science and practical applications.
The International Balzan Foundation awards four prizes annually, with subject areas changing from year to year. Coates received the 2026 natural sciences prize in the biodegradable-polymers category.
Coates' previous honors include the 2026 Benjamin Franklin Prize, the National Academy of Sciences Award for the Industrial Application of Science, the Eni Award, the Gustavus John Esselen Award, the Newcomb Cleveland Prize and the Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Award.
He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Inventors and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
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