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John Rogers elected to the Royal Society

Honor recognizes ‘a substantial contribution to the improvement of natural knowledge’
rogers

Northwestern University bioelectronics pioneer John A. Rogers has been elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society, the United Kingdom’s national academy of science and one of the most prestigious academies in Europe.

With this new election, Rogers becomes one of only three individuals in the world with membership in all three U.S. academies (National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine) and in the Royal Society.

Each year the Royal Society elects new Fellows and Foreign Members based on “a substantial contribution to the improvement of natural knowledge, including mathematics, engineering science and medical science.”

This year’s cohort features 90 trailblazing researchers from around the globe, including eight from the U.S. The Fellows join the ranks of Stephen Hawking, Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin, Albert Einstein, Lise Meitner, Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar and Dorothy Hodgkin.

“It is with great pleasure that I welcome the latest cohort of outstanding researchers into the Fellowship of the Royal Society,” said Sir Adrian Smith, president of the Royal Society. “Their achievements represent the very best of scientific endeavor, from basic discovery to research with real-world impact across health, technology and policy. From tackling global health challenges to reimagining what AI can do for humanity, their work is a testament to the power of curiosity-driven research and innovation.”

“I am deeply honored to join the Royal Society as a Fellow,” Rogers said. “Frankly, I am very fortunate — on average, the society elects only a half dozen or so foreign members from the U.S. each year, and only a couple of these are in the physical and engineering sciences. This recognition reflects the dedication and hard work of our broader team. I am privileged to work alongside such a remarkable, talented group of students, postdocs and collaborators.”

Rogers is the Louis Simpson and Kimberly Querrey Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, Biomedical Engineering and Neurological Surgery — with appointments in the McCormick School of Engineering and Feinberg School of Medicine. He also is founding director of the Querrey Simpson Institute for Bioelectronics.

“I am delighted to see John recognized with this tremendous honor,” said Christopher Schuh, dean of McCormick. “John is undeniably at the forefront of a field with the potential for incredible impact on our daily lives. We are proud to have him here at Northwestern."

Rogers’ interdisciplinary research combines expertise from nearly every traditional field of study in science and engineering, with outcomes that have changed the way people think about consumer and medical devices. He is internationally renowned for developing methods for transforming brittle, rigid electronic systems into soft, flexible devices that bend, stretch and twist like a rubber band. These systems can non-invasively integrate on, in, around or throughout soft living tissues, with ability to provide diverse, clinically relevant diagnostic monitoring and therapeutic action.

After discovering that ultrathin silicon can dissolve in water, Rogers and his team created a new class of technology, known as “transient electronics,” which harmlessly disappear in water or biofluids after they are no longer needed. Examples of transient electronics include dissolving nerve stimulators, pain relievers and temporary pacemakers, designed to allow patients to avoid a second surgery for device removal.

Rogers’ other devices include soft, wireless monitoring devices for premature babies in the neonatal intensive care unit; flexible, wearable systems that monitor how much milk breastfeeding babies consume in real time; non-invasive sensors that track fluid flow through ventricular shunts for treating hydrocephalus; skin-integrated microfluidic systems for analysis of biomarkers in sweat; wireless, battery-free devices for personalized measurement of exposure to ultraviolet light from the sun; wearable haptics devices that mimic the complexity of touch; and the first wearable device capable of measuring gases emitted from and absorbed by the skin.

Among Rogers’ many awards, he has received a MacArthur “genius grant,” a Guggenheim Fellowship and the Benjamin Franklin Medal. With this new honor, he joins long-time Northwestern collaborator Yonggang Huang, who was elected into the Royal Society in 2023, and renowned Northwestern civil engineer Zdeněk Bažant, who was elected in 2015.