Professor Michael Holynski (University of Birmingham), Dr Elena Boto, Dr Niall Holmes and Dr Ryan M Hill (University of Nottingham), have all been awarded prestigious prizes from the Institute of Physics at the 2022 annual IoP awards.
Professor Michael Holynski, Atom Interferometry team lead at the UK Quantum Technology Hub Sensors and Timing, has been awarded the James Joule Medal and Prize from the Institute of Physics.
Professor Holynski is active in the development of atom interferometers for practical and fundamental applications. He was recognised for his contributions to quantum sensing, where he has overcome technical challenges in underground mapping and demonstrated the detection of application-relevant targets.
Dr Elena Boto, Dr Niall Holmes and Dr Ryan M Hill have been awarded the Clifford Paterson Medal and Prize for the design, fabrication, demonstration and commercialisation of a new wearable brain imaging technology, based on optically pumped magnetometers, that is capable of characterising human brain function with unprecedented accuracy.
Further celebrating quantum-enabled healthcare innovation at the UK Quantum Technology Hub Sensors and Timing, Cerca – a spinout company launched by Hub researchers at the University of Nottingham in 2020 – have received a Business Innovation Award for bringing to market the world’s first wearable magnetoencephalography scanner. The device measures human brain function in health and disease, providing unprecedented accuracy and unparalleled practicality.
The Institute of Physics (IOP) is the professional body and learned society for physics, and the leading body for practising physicists, in the UK and Ireland. Its annual awards proudly reflect the wide variety of people, places, organisations and achievements that make physics such an exciting discipline.
The IOP awards celebrate physicists at every stage of their career; from those just starting out through to physicists at the peak of their careers, and those with a distinguished career behind them.
On behalf of the Institute of Physics, I warmly congratulate all of this year’s Award winners. Each and every one of them has made a significant and positive impact in their profession, whether as a researcher, teacher, industrialist, technician or apprentice. Recent events have underlined the absolute necessity to encourage and reward our scientists and those who teach and encourage future generations. We rely on their dedication and innovation to improve many aspects of the lives of individuals and of our wider society.Professor Sheila Rowan, President, Institute of Physics
More information about the IOP Awards here.
