The American Academy of Arts and Sciences has named Ed Boyden, Ernst Bamberg, Karl Deisseroth, Peter Hegemann, Gero Miesenböck, and Georg Nagel as recipients of the Rumford Prize, "in recognition of their extraordinary contributions related to the invention and refinement of optogenetics."
Since 1839, the Rumford Prize has recognized contributions to the fields of heat and light. Previous recipients include Thomas Edison (1895); Edwin Land (1945); and Enrico Fermi (1953).