Magnet pioneer Masato Sagawa wins QEPrize

Innovation enabled cleaner energy technologies

Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering

MASATO Sagawa has won the 2022 Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering (QEPrize) for his work on the discovery, development, and commercialisation of the world’s most powerful permanent magnet which has enabled cleaner energy technologies.

Sagawa, who has degrees in electrical engineering and a doctorate in materials engineering, was recognised for his pioneering development of the sintered neodymium-iron-boron (Nd-Fe-B) magnet, a sintered rare-earth permanent magnet. His work led to a new magnet for mass market that almost doubled the performance of the previous best, and successfully turned the Nd-Fe-B magnet into a viable industrial material with wide applications.

He discovered Nd-Fe-B magnets in 1982. His innovation replaced scarce and expensive cobalt and samarium (in samarium-cobalt magnets discovered in the 1960s) with more abundant and cheaper iron and neodymium. He also introduced boron to improve magnetic properties – the first step in delivering high performance to a mass market.