{"id":"peter-hegemann","type":"person","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/peter-hegemann","language":"en","name":"Peter Hegemann","name_en":"Peter Hegemann","name_ne":null,"description":"German biophysicist","headline":"German biophysicist","also_known_as":[],"summary":"Peter Hegemann is a German biophysicist, Hertie Senior Research Chair for Neurosciences and a professor of Experimental Biophysics at the Department of Biology, Faculty of Life Sciences, Humboldt University of Berlin, Germany. He is known for his discovery of channelrhodopsin, a type of ion channels regulated by light, thereby serving as a light sensor. This created the field of optogenetics, a technique that controls the activities of specific neurons by applying light. He has received numerous accolades, including the 2026 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, jointly awarded with Karl Deisseroth and Georg Nagel \"for their discoveries concerning light-gated ion channels and optogenetics.\"","summary_more":[],"facts":[{"key":"born","label":"Born","values":[{"text":"11 December 1954","date":"1954-12-11"}],"source":{"label":"Wikidata","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2075526#P569"}},{"key":"birthplace","label":"Place of birth","values":[{"text":"Münster","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2742"}],"source":{"label":"Wikidata","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2075526#P19"}},{"key":"citizenship","label":"Citizenship","values":[{"text":"Germany","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q183"}],"source":{"label":"Wikidata","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2075526#P27"}},{"key":"occupation","label":"Occupation","values":[{"text":"professor","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q121594"},{"text":"biochemist","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2919046"},{"text":"biophysicist","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q14906342"}],"source":{"label":"Wikidata","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2075526#P106"}},{"key":"education","label":"Education","values":[{"text":"Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q878218","start":"1980","end":"1984"}],"source":{"label":"Wikidata","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2075526#P69"}},{"key":"website","label":"Official website","values":[{"text":"unisyscat.de/people/hegemann-peter.html","url":"https://www.unisyscat.de/people/hegemann-peter.html"}],"source":{"label":"Wikidata","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2075526#P856"}},{"key":"awards","label":"Awards","values":[{"text":"Massry Prize","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1907790","date":"2016"},{"text":"Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q703205","date":"2013"},{"text":"The Brain Prize","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q18357422","date":"2013"},{"text":"Karl Heinz Beckurts Award","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q29841295","date":"2010"},{"text":"Berlin Science Award","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q821879","date":"2015"},{"text":"Hector Wissenschaftspreis","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q23786110","date":"2016"},{"text":"Harvey Prize","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1587906","date":"2016"},{"text":"Canada Gairdner International Award","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1031994","date":"2018"},{"text":"EMBO Membership","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q26268243"},{"text":"Louis-Jeantet Prize for Medicine","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q14324534","date":"2013"},{"text":"Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q999734","date":"2021"},{"text":"Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q52382875","date":"2022"},{"text":"Gregor Mendel Medal","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q22965452","date":"2017"},{"text":"Warren Alpert Foundation Prize","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7970020","date":"2019"},{"text":"Rumford Prize","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2096481","date":"2019"}],"source":{"label":"Wikidata","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2075526#P166"}}],"office":null,"sections":[],"cited":[],"cited_from":null,"videos":[],"last_reviewed":null,"organizations":[],"same_as":["https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Hegemann","https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2075526","https://www.unisyscat.de/people/hegemann-peter.html"],"faq":[{"q":"When was Peter Hegemann born?","a":"Peter Hegemann was born on 11 December 1954 in Münster."},{"q":"Where did Peter Hegemann study?","a":"Peter Hegemann was educated at Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry."}],"related":[{"name":"Adolf Windaus","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/adolf-windaus"},{"name":"Albrecht Kossel","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/albrecht-kossel"},{"name":"Arno Allan Penzias","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/arno-allan-penzias"},{"name":"Benjamin List","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/benjamin-list"},{"name":"Bernard Katz","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/bernard-katz"},{"name":"Bert Sakmann","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/bert-sakmann"},{"name":"Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/christiane-nusslein-volhard"},{"name":"Ernst Otto Fischer","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/ernst-otto-fischer"},{"name":"Ernst Ruska","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/ernst-ruska"},{"name":"Erwin Neher","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/erwin-neher"},{"name":"Feodor Lynen","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/feodor-lynen"},{"name":"Friedrich Bergius","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/friedrich-bergius"}],"places_in":[],"nearby":[],"image":{"url":"https://diginpl.com/kb-img/peter-hegemann-5a8cd42921.jpg","width":318,"height":380,"license":"CC BY-SA 4.0","credit":"Millencolin","page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Peter_Hegemann.jpg"},"sources":[{"label":"Wikipedia (English): Peter Hegemann","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Hegemann","license":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/"},{"label":"Wikidata item Q2075526","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2075526","license":"https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/"},{"label":"Image: Peter Hegemann.jpg by Millencolin (CC BY-SA 4.0)","url":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Peter_Hegemann.jpg","license":null}],"license":{"text":"CC BY-SA 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/","facts":"https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/"},"attribution":"Text from the Wikipedia article Peter Hegemann, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. This page's text is shared under the same licence. Facts from Wikidata (CC0). Image: Peter Hegemann.jpg — Millencolin, CC BY-SA 4.0.","cite":"\"Peter Hegemann\". DigiNepal. Last updated 31 October 2026. https://diginpl.com/people/peter-hegemann. Retrieved 15 November 2026.","date_modified":"2026-10-31T07:01:58Z","facts_checked":"2026-11-15","alternates":{"html":"https://diginpl.com/people/peter-hegemann","en":"https://diginpl.com/people/peter-hegemann","ne":"https://diginpl.com/people/peter-hegemann?lang=ne"}}