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Britain’s top physics prizes announced
Press Release
6 October 2006
Free-standing sheets of graphite, the moons of Saturn and a mobile science laboratory are among the projects recognised by Britain’s most prestigious prizes for physics, the Institute of Physics Awards 2007, announced today (6 October 2006). The awards honour physicists who have made remarkable contributions to science.
Andre Geim from the University of Manchester has been awarded the 2007 Mott medal for condensed matter or material physics research, for his discovery of a new class of materials – free-standing two-dimensional crystals - the first materials that are just a single atom thick. Among them is graphene made from splitting graphite apart into single sheets. Because of its unique properties, graphene will be an easy way for scientists to study the properties of electrons.
Michele Dougherty at Imperial College London has been awarded the 2007 Chree medal for her work on the Cassini mission to Saturn. Cassini is the first spacecraft to explore Saturn and its moons whilst in orbit, rather than flying past the planet. By taking measurements on the moons of Saturn, Dougherty was able to identify the atmosphere on the moon Enceladus. This led to the realisation that Enceladus is the source of the water that replenishes Saturn’s E-ring.
The 2007 Kelvin medal has been awarded to Charles Jenkins at the AustralianNationalUniversity for his pioneering work on the Lab in a Lorry project. Jenkins devised the concept of the self-contained lab in the back of a lorry to give young people the chance to do hands-on science outside of the classroom. He also designed the physics experiments that are on board the lorry. The Institute, in partnership with the Schlumberger Foundation, commissioned three lorries during Einstein Year which have had over 42 000 visitors and are currently still touring.
The Institute of Physics Awards 2007
Main prizes
DIRAC MEDAL AND PRIZE. David Sherrington, Universtiy of Oxford. For his pioneering work on spin glasses, which has led to a better understanding of physical characteristics of glasses and how these disordered structures differ from regular crystals.
GUTHRIE MEDAL AND PRIZE. Gilbert Lonzarich, the University of Cambridge. For his contributions to theoretical and experimental condensed-matter physics; in particular for his work on strongly correlated electron systems.
GLAZEBROOK MEDAL AND PRIZE. Colin Carlile, the Institut Laue-Langevin, Grenoble. For his contributions to neutron science; in particular through his leadership of the Institut Laue-Langevin, the world’s premier source of neutron beams for research.
Subject prizes
BRAGG MEDAL AND PRIZE. Philip Britton, the grammar school, Leeds. For his important contributions to physics education including establishing one of the first physics teacher networks and leading the production of materials to support physics teachers up to GCSE level.
CHREE MEDAL AND PRIZE. Michele Dougherty, ImperialCollegeLondon. For her contributions to the field of planetary magnetic fields and atmospheres and their interactions with the solar wind, in particular through scientific leadership of the Cassini mission to Saturn and its moons.
DUDDELL MEDAL AND PRIZE. Richard Nelmes, the University of Edinburgh. For pioneering new techniques and instrumentation that have transformed high-pressure structural science, including the production of quantitative diffraction data that can be analysed to pressures beyond a megabar.
KELVIN MEDAL AND PRIZE. Charles Jenkins, AustraliaNationalUniversity. For the development of the Lab in a Lorry, a self-contained mobile laboratory in which young people take part in hands-on experiments.
MOTT MEDAL AND PRIZE. Andre Geim, University of Manchester. For his discovery of a new class of materials: free-standing two-dimensional crystals, in particular graphene.
YOUNG MEDAL AND PRIZE. James Roy Taylor, ImperialCollegeLondon. For his contributions to the development of modern solid-state lasers, including the pioneering of lasers that generate ultrashort pulses of light that can help understand how light travels along optical fibres.
Prizes for early career research work
MAXWELL MEDAL AND PRIZE. Nigel Cooper, Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge. For his for his work on topological excitations in quantum Hall fluids and related systems, in particular rotating Bose–Einstein condensates.
BOYS MEDAL AND PRIZE. Amalia Patanè, University of Nottingham. For her innovative experimental studies of the quantum behaviour of electrons in novel semiconductor heterostructures.
PATERSON MEDAL AND PRIZE. Kurt Haselwimmer, Cambridge Magnetic Refrigeration Ltd. For establishing the successful scientific instruments company Cambridge Magnetic Refrigeration.
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