Professor of Physics Pedro Miguel Etxenique has been awarded the "Passion for Science" prize of the international science film festival #LabMeCrazy! organized every year by the Science Museum of the University of Navarra. The award will be presented on Tuesday, February 24, 2026 at the festival's gala, which will be held at the Theater of the Museum of the University of Navarra.

Pedro Miguel Etxenique (Isaba, 1950) was one of the first students of the degree in Physical Sciences that the University of Navarra taught at the San Sebastian campus, where he graduated in 1972. He holds doctorates from the University of Cambridge and the Autonomous University of Barcelona. He is currently Professor Emeritus of Condensed Matter Physics at the University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU.

Etxenique has been president of the Donostia International Physics Center and the CIC Nanogune. He is honorary president of Jakiunde, the Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters of the Basque Country. He has devoted great effort to promote science as an economic and cultural activity, and to emphasize the importance of a scientifically informed society.

"It is an honor for #LabMeCrazy! to recognize the career of this great scientist; a researcher who has promoted fundamental science as a cultural and social engine. In addition, he has developed an extraordinary work of science communication and is the best example of transmitting the passion for science to new generations," says Bienvenido León, director of #LabMeCrazy! Science Film Festival.

Etxenique is a former Education Advisor to the Basque Government. He has been overseas fellow at Churchill College and visiting professor at the Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge. He is a Fellow of the American Physical Society and the American Association for the Advancement of Science and a member of the Royal Academy of Exact, Physical and Natural Sciences. He holds honorary doctorates from the universities of Valladolid, Pública de Navarra, Complutense de Madrid, Aalto de Finlandia, Primada de América Autónoma de Santo Domingo and Autónoma de Madrid.

Among the multiple recognitions and awards attributed to him in his professional career are the Prince of Asturias Award for Scientific and Technical Research, Max Planck Award for Physics, "Xabier María de Munibe", Euskadi Award for Research, "Dupont" Award for Science, Prince of Viana Award for Culture, CSIC Tree of Science Award, Iberdrola Award for Science and Technology, National Blas Cabrera Award for Physics, Materials Science and Earth Science, among others. He received the Gold Medal of the City of San Sebastian, the Gold Medal of the Royal Spanish Society of Physics, Gold Medal of Gipuzkoa and in 2016 the Gold Medal of Navarra. He was named Universal Basque of the Year in 1998. He is Favorite Son of the town of Isaba in Navarra.

With the "Passion for Science" award, Pedro Miguel Etxenique joins the list of scientists who have achieved a brilliant career, and who have been awarded in previous editions of this festival: Francis Mojica, Margarita del Val, Luis Enjuanes, Vicente Larraga and Mariano Esteban, Clara Grima, Juan Luis Arsuaga and Sara García Alonso.

#LabMeCrazy! Science Film Festival is an international science film festival organized by the Science Museum of the University of Navarra, with the collaboration of the Caja Navarra Foundation, the Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology (FECYT) / Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities, the Government of Navarra, SACYR Foundation, Laboral Kutxa, the Lilly Foundation and Sanitas.