King's College London

Professor Francesca Di Lodovico from the Department of Physics and Dr Ana-Maria Raclariu from the Department of Mathematics have been awarded prizes from the Institute of Physics (IOP), the leading body for practising physicists in the UK and Ireland, for their distinguished work in the field.

These annual prizes are presented to those academics, PhD students and technicians nominated by members of the physics community in recognition of their contribution to the discipline. 

Professor Francesca Di Lodovico – Giuseppe Occhialini Medal and Prize

Professor in Particle Physics in the Department of Physics and Head of the Experimental Particle and Astroparticle Physics Group, Francesca Di Lodovico, has been awarded the IOP’s Giuseppe Occhialini Medal and Prize.

Awarded jointly by the Italian Physical Society and the IOP, Professor Di Lodovico received the prize for her significant contributions to neutrino physics, the study of the way neutrinos and quarks oscillate, and leadership of internationally important neutrino observation experiments.

Neutrinos are fundamental, subatomic particles which are among the most abundant in the universe. Reaching earth from distant cosmic phenomena like supernovas, neutrinos could help address some of physics’ most basic questions about the early universe. However, with almost no mass and no electric charge, neutrinos are extraordinarily difficult to detect.

Professor Di Lodovico has played a pivotal role at the forefront of neutrino detection, leading the UK collaboration on the next-generation Hyper-Kamiokande detector in Japan. As well as guiding the UK’s scientific contribution and securing the funding that now supports the UK’s share of infrastructure in Japan, her contributions have helped to put the Tokai to Kamioka neutrino experiment in a position to produce high-quality observations of hitherto unseen phenomena.

Thanking those around her, Professor Di Lodovico said:

"This recognition reflects the collective effort of many outstanding colleagues whose dedication have been central to advancing our understanding of neutrinos and their role in the universe. I am immensely grateful to receive this award.”

Dr Ana-Maria Raclariu – James Clerk Maxwell Medal and Prize

Lecturer in Theoretical Physics, Ana-Maria Raclariu, has been awarded the IOP’s James Clerk Maxwell Medal and Prize.

Honouring exceptional early-career contributions to theoretical physics, Dr Raclariu received the award for several groundbreaking contributions to theories of gravity in asymptotically flat spacetimes used to describe regions of our universe surrounding isolated sources of gravitational radiation.

Her work has led to the development of the celestial holography programme that provides a reformulation of gravitational observables in terms of observables of a lower-dimensional quantum theory.

In particular, her research uncovered novel connections between asymptotic symmetries in gravity and gauge theories, scattering observables and two-dimensional conformal field theories.

The hope is that these ideas will ultimately lead to the formulation of a theory of quantum gravity that reduces to Einstein's general relativity at long distances.

Reflecting on her award, Dr Ana-Maria Raclariu said:

"I feel privileged to receive the James Clerk Maxwell Medal and Prize. The work leading to this prize is the result of many collaborations and I am thankful to everyone who has contributed to the rapidly developing celestial holography programme. I am very much looking forward to future developments, and I am hopeful that they will eventually lead to a better understanding of quantum gravity."

Congratulations to both winners.