This recognition, presented biennially at the general meeting of the American Physical Society, honor and recognize the dedication of physicists who have made contributions to the development of physics in countries of the third world. It was established in 1991 with the support of Forum on International Physics and consists of a stipend of $2,000 and a certificate citing the contributions made by the recipient.

Miguel José Yacamán, born 1946 in Córdoba, Veracruz, is a Mexican physicist who has made many contributions to the field of nanotechnology. He earned his Ph.D in physics in 1972 from the National Autonomous University of Mexico, where he was later director of the Institute of Physics from 1983-1991. He was the Reese Endowed Professor in Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin from 2001-2008. In 2008, he joined The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) to chair the Department of Physics and Astronomy in the College of Sciences.