January 8, 2025
By Jason Maderer

Georgia Tech nuclear engineer Steven Biegalski is receiving the 2025 George Hevesy Medal — the highest international award for career achievements in applied nuclear and radiochemistry. Biegalski is the first engineer to win the honor since it was established 57 years ago, and just the seventh American to receive it.

The medal honors Biegalski’s research and contributions to nuclear analytical chemistry, specifically for “developing comprehensive methods for analyzing radioxenon signatures and creating isotopically pure radioxenon samples, supporting global nuclear monitoring efforts and nuclear accident response.”

The medal is sponsored by the Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry with honorees selected by a dedicated panel of scholars overseen by the Board of the Hevesy Award.

“Receiving the Hevesy Medal fills me with profound gratitude and humility. This lifetime achievement award also indicates that I’ve come full circle: I’ve been involved with the international Radioanalytical Methods community since I was a graduate student,” Biegalski said. “I’m grateful to my colleagues and students who have contributed to the research efforts that led to this award. It inspires me to further advance our understanding of nuclear chemistry while mentoring the next generation of scientists who will carry this legacy forward.”

Biegalski is the chair of Georgia Tech’s Nuclear and Radiological Engineering and Medical Physics program in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering. His research focuses on nuclear applications within engineering and the development of advanced nuclear reactor technology.

He holds leadership positions within both the Consortium for Enabling Technologies and Innovation and the Consortium for Monitoring Technologies and Verification. These consortia, supported by the National Nuclear Security Administration, focus on nuclear non-proliferation research. Biegalski is the Georgia Tech lead within the NEXT Research Alliance, which is working to design and license a molten salt research reactor.

The award is named after György Hevesy, who won the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1943 for his work on the use of radionuclides as tracers in the study of chemical processes.

Biegalski will receive the Hevesy Medal in March.