Uri Banin is a professor in the Institute of Chemistry at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He received his PhD from The Hebrew University in 1994, and after a postdoc position at UC Berkeley, he joined The Hebrew University faculty in 1997. Banin is studying the chemistry and physics of nanocrystals and is best known for inventing new types of semiconductor and hybrid semiconductor-metal nanocrystals, and for his studies on their unique chemical and physical properties with relevance for applications in nanotechnology in the fields of displays, photocatalysis and biology.

He has received numerous awards, including the Hebrew University Rector Prize for excellence in research (2006), the Kaye Innovation Award (2005) and the Israel Chemical Society Award for Young Chemist (2001).