The Lennart Nilsson Award
The Lennart Nilsson Award Foundation was established in 1998 in recognition of the world-renowned Swedish photographer Lennart Nilsson and his extraordinary body of work. It's main aim is to promote education, training and research within the medical, biological and engineering sciences through the use of images.
The awarded amount is SEK 120 000 and the prize ceremony will take place in connection with the installation ceremony for new professors at Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm.
Prize winner 2026 - Per Uhlén
Per Uhlén, Professor of Cell Signaling at Karolinska Institutet, is awarded the 2026 Lennart Nilsson Award for his pioneering development of advanced microscopy methods that visualize life’s innermost processes.
The judges’ citation
Per Uhlén is awarded the Lennart Nilsson Award 2026 for his pioneering development of advanced microscopy methods that visualize the fundamental processes of life. Through his research, Uhlén has created unique opportunities to explore cell signaling at both cellular and organ levels, with a particular focus on neuroscience and cancer.
By developing tissue preparation methods in combination with advanced light microscopy, he has succeeded in making dense brain tissue transparent. This has rendered the invisible visible and allowed for detailed imaging of intact biological structures in complete three-dimensional volumes.
By combining these techniques with advanced analytical tools, Uhlén has pushed the boundaries of what can be measured and understood. He has furthermore established and managed leading microscopy facilities at Karolinska Institutet to the benefit of numerous researchers. His work unites technical perfection with an aesthetic and pedagogical brilliance that highlights the beauty in medical and biological specimens – entirely in the spirit of Lennart Nilsson..”
Previous prize winners
2025 - Maximilian Ackermann
2024 - Csaba Adori
2023 - Fredrik Pleijel
2022 - Martin Oeggerli
2021 - Stephen Gschmeissner
2020 - Jan Huisken
2019 - Ed Boyden
2018 - Thomas Deerinck
2017 - Xiaowei Zhuang
2016 - Alexey Amunts
2015 - Katrin Willig
2014 - Timothy Behrens
2012 - Hans Blom
2011- Nancy Kedersha
2010 - Kenneth Libbrecht
2009 - Carolyn Porco and Babak A. Tafreshi
2008 - Anders Persson
2007 - Felice Frankel
2006 - Satoshi Kuribayashi
2005 - Frans Lanting
2004 - Göran Scharmer
2003 - David Barlow
2002 - Oliver Meckes and Nicole Ottawa
2001 - David Doubilet
2000 - David Malin
1999 - James Henderson
1998 - Nils Åslund
About Lennart Nilsson
Born in Strängnäs, Sweden, on August 24, 1922, Lennart Nilsson began his career as a freelance photojournalist. His work spans more than seven decades, beginning in the early 1940s when modern photojournalism made its breakthrough in Sweden.
His early photographic essays, including A Midwife in Lapland (1945), Polar Bear Hunting in Spitzbergen (1947), Congo (1948) and Sweden in Profile (1954) gained international attention through publication in leading photojournalism magazines such as Life, Picture Post and Illustrated.
In the 1950s, Nilsson began experimenting with new photographic techniques including macro- and microphotography, which led to the books, Ants (Myror) and Life in the Sea (Liv i hav).
In the 1960s, the use of specially designed, ultra-slim endoscopes made it possible for Nilsson to capture on film the inner workings of blood vessels and various cavities of the human body. The book A Child is Born (Ett barn blir till) first published in 1965 is undoubtedly Nilsson’s most famous work.
In the 1970s, Nilsson began to use the scanning electron microscope to capture images of the inner workings of the human body. This shift in the focus of his work gave Nilsson the opportunity to work on the premises of Karolinska Institute.
What remains remarkable is the combination of his unending patience to fully explore his subjects, combined with a journalist’s eye, artist’s sense of form and colour, and technician’s inventive skills to maximize available light and capture spectacular images.
In 1976 Lennart Nilsson was awarded an honorary doctorate at Karolinska Institutet. In 2009 he was given the title Professor’s name by the Swedish Government and in 2012 he was awarded the Karolinska Institutet Jubilee Medal (Gold class) for his long-standing and groundbreaking contributions to the development and innovative advancement of medical photography.
Lennart Nilsson passed away in January 2017.