A chemical physicist at Stockholm University, Anders Nilsson studies the structure and dynamics of water. His goal is to understand the origin of the unusual physical properties that make this liquid completely unique on earth.

Nilsson received a PhD in physics at Uppsala University, Sweden (1989) in the laboratory created by the Nobel Laureate Kai Siegbahn. Before returning to Sweden in 2014 he spent 15 years as a professor in Photon Science at Stanford University. His research interests include x-ray spectroscopy and scattering, chemical bonding and reactions on surfaces, ultrafast science, heterogeneous catalysis, electrocatalysis in fuel cells, photocatalysis for converting sunlight to fuels, structure of water and aqueous solutions.

Nilsson’s research on water was selected in 2004 by Science Magazine as one of the top ten breakthroughs of the year, illustrated in 2014 on the cover of Nature and selected as one of the 100 most essential discoveries in 2017 by Discovery Magazine.