Professor Billinge has won the 2010 J.D. Hanawalt Award for his contribution to the field of powder diffraction.

The award is named for J. Donald Hanawalt, whose pioneering work in the 1930’s led to the development of the PDF database structure and search/match procedures still in use today. The International Center for Diffraction Data gives the award every three years. Awardees are chosen by the Hanawalt Award Selection Committee, which is comprised of past recipients.

A news release here and here if you want to learn more