Royal Society honours for College natural scientists

Medals and Prize Lectures in recognition of top researchers' work<em> - News</em>

By Danielle Reeves
Thursday 10 July 2008

Three researchers from the College's Faculty of Natural Sciences have been awarded prestigious prizes by the Royal Society, it is announced today.

Professor Michele Dougherty from the Department of Physics is awarded the Hughes Medal, Professor Edward Hinds, also from Physics, receives the Rumford Medal, and Professor Andrew deMello from the Department of Chemistry will deliver the Clifford Paterson Prize Lecture for 2009.

The Hughes medal is awarded annually in recognition of a new discovery in the physical sciences. Since 1902 the Hughes Medal has been awarded to over 100 eminent physical scientists, including Alexander Graham Bell and Stephen Hawking. The medal is silver gilt and is accompanied by a gift of £1,000.

Professor Michele Dougherty is awarded for her work on the NASA/ESA mission to Saturn

Professor Dougherty is awarded the 2008 Hughes Medal for her work with the NASA ESA Cassini/Huygens mission to Saturn and its moons. As lead scientist in charge of the mission's magnetic field experiments, Professor Dougherty was instrumental in the discovery of an atmosphere around Saturn's moon Enceladus. Her work has revolutionised scientists' understanding of planetary moons in the solar system.

On receiving the medal and prize, Professor Dougherty said: "I'm delighted to receive the Hughes Medal from the Royal Society in recognition of my team's work on the Cassini mission. It is a wonderful mission to be involved in and the Enceladus results are an example of the marvellous interdisciplinary science which can result from collaboration by such an international team."

The 2008 Rumford Medal, awarded to Professor Edward Hinds, is given biennially in recognition of an outstandingly important recent discovery in the field of thermal or optical properties of matter, to a scientist working in Europe.

Professor Ed Hinds' work with ultra-cold matter is highlighted by the Royal Society with the 2008 Rumford Medal

Professor Hinds has been awarded the medal for his extensive and highly innovative work in the field of ultra- cold matter– the physics of atom clouds that are cooled to a few billionths of a degree above absolute zero.

He is using the techniques of microfabrication to make tiny traps, where these atoms can be manipulated to harness their quantum-mechanical behaviour. He has recently built a very small optical cavity in which one photon can be brought together with one atom for application to quantum information processing. He is also working on an interferometer, where the quantum matter waves are used to detect very small forces.

Commenting on receiving the medal, Professor Hinds said: "This is a wonderful recognition for our field and for all the hard work of everyone in the Centre for Cold Matter."

Professor Andrew deMello, a nanotechnology expert, will deliver the 2009 Clifford Paterson Prize Lecture

The 2009 Clifford Paterson Prize Lecture, which Professor Andrew deMello has been asked to present, is awarded each year and is given on any aspect of engineering. Since 1975 the Clifford Paterson Lecture has been delivered by a number of eminent engineers and scientists, including Baron Broers and Sir Richard Friend.

Professor deMello has been chosen by the Royal Society to deliver this lecture in recognition of his achievements in the fields of nanotechnology and bioanalytical science.

Professor deMello's research focuses on the creation of micro- and nanofluidic systems for chemical and biological applications. He has pioneered the use of such 'lab-on-a-chip' systems for performing ultra-high throughput chemical synthesis, DNA amplification, nanomaterial synthesis and point-of-care diagnostics.

Professor deMello said: "I am delighted to have been chosen to deliver the 2009 Clifford Paterson Lecture. This is a wonderful and an unexpected honour, and I think acknowledges the interdisciplinary nature of modern engineering.

"Importantly, the award also recognizes my students, collaborators and mentors, without whom my research would have been severely impoverished over the past ten years. They have played the major role in the research leading to this award, and I am exceptionally grateful to them."

Professor Sir Peter Knight, Principal of the Faculty of Natural Sciences, congratulated all three researchers, saying: "I'm delighted for Michele, Ed and Andrew – these medals and prizes are testament to their excellent work and groundbreaking research. It's a real coup for the Faculty when three of our researchers are highlighted and recognised by the Royal Society in this way, and it shows that extremely high quality research in the physical sciences at the College is continuing to go from strength to strength."

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