Three UCL academics recognised with prestigious physics prizes

Professor Jennifer Thomas, Dr Helen Czerski and Professor Hiranya Peiris have been awarded medals and prizes by the Institute of Physics (IOP) for their outstanding, sustained and distinguished contributions to physics. Each year, the IOP recognises and rewards excellence in individuals and teams who have made a contribution to physics in the UK and Ireland. The awards reflect the breadth of work in the physics community - spanning academia, industry, education and outreach. This year, three of the 22 prizes were won by UCL researchers. Professor Jennifer Thomas CBE (UCL Physics & Astronomy) has received the Michael Faraday Medal and Prize for her outstanding investigations into the physics of neutrino oscillations and, in particular, her leadership of the MINOS/MINOS+ long-baseline neutrino oscillation experiment. Elected a fellow of the Royal Society last year, Professor Thomas, has been further recognised for her pioneering work in high-energy particle physics and in particular, her major contributions to the study of neutrinos. She has played a leading role in detector development, pushing novel applications of and innovations in tracking detectors including a system to apply mobile technology to photon detector readout.