Sir Konstantin Novoselov, the scientist who discovered the "wonder material" graphene with colleague Sir Andre Geim, will be knighted today.
The Nobel Prize-winning professor of physics will receive the honour for services to science from the Princess Royal at a Buckingham Palace investiture ceremony.
Graphene is the thinnest material known and the strongest ever measured. It also conducts electricity and heat better than any other substance.
Potential applications include fold-away mobile phones, wallpaper-thin lighting panels, and the next generation of aircraft.
Jewellery designer Annoushka Ducas and her husband, entrepreneur John Ayton, will both be awarded MBEs for services to the jewellery industry.
The couple founded the jewellery brand Annoushka and before that set up Links of London, the successful jewellery retailer.
Andy Gotts, who has photographed countless Hollywood actors in aid of charity, will be awarded an MBE during the ceremony.
Film stars who have posed for him include Sir Anthony Hopkins, Kate Winslet, Al Pacino, Kirk Douglas, Gwyneth Paltrow and Sir Michael Caine.