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Peter Hegemann
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Peter Hegemann, wearing a suit and patterned tie, smiles while holding an open award certificate in both hands.
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Peter Hegemann, wearing a suit and patterned tie, smiles while holding an open award certificate in both hands.
Peter Hegemann German biochemist and biophysicist Peter Hegemann contributed to the development of optogenetics. He shared the 2026 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine with American psychiatrist and bioengineer Karl Deisseroth and German biophysicist Georg Nagel.

Peter Hegemann

German biochemist and biophysicist
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Kara Rogers
Kara Rogers is the senior editor of biomedical sciences at Encyclopædia Britannica, where she oversees a range of content from medicine and genetics to microorganisms. She joined Britannica in 2006 and...
Kara Rogers
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Britannica Editors
Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree....
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Peter Hegemann (born December 11, 1954, Münster, Germany) is a German biochemist and biophysicist whose work contributed to the development of optogenetics—a research method in which optics and genetics are combined in technologies designed to control well-defined events in cells of living animal tissue. For his discoveries, Hegemann was awarded the 2026 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine, shared with American psychiatrist and bioengineer Karl Deisseroth and German biophysicist Georg Nagel. Quick Facts In 1975 Hegemann...

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