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Cristina Lazzeroni is a Professor in Particle Physics at the University of Birmingham

Cristina Lazzeroni, Professor in Particle Physics at the University of Birmingham, is the winner of this year's Institute of Physics Lise Meitner Medal and Prize. 

The Institute of Physics (IOP) is the UK and Ireland’s professional body for practicing physicists, and has a rich history of supporting and nurturing talent, providing learning resources to schools, colleges and higher education institutions (HEIs), and of advising science and education policy makers.

Its awards recognise, celebrate and reflect the impact and applications of physics in everyday life, the breadth of the discipline in academia, industry and medicine, and its impact in extraordinary human achievements.

They include awards for technicians, school teachers, researchers at all career stages and levels of academic achievement, and from across the HEI spectrum.

The Lise Meitner Prize Medal and Prize is awarded for distinguished contributions to public engagement within physics. The medal will be silver and will be accompanied by a prize of £1,000 and a certificate.

Lise Meitner was an Austrian physicist who worked on radioactivity and nuclear physics. She was the first woman to become a full professor of physics in Germany. In 1944, the Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to her long-time collaborator Otto Hahn for work on nuclear fission. In the 1990s, the records of the committee that decided on that prize were opened. Several scientists and journalists have called her exclusion “unjust”, and Meitner has received a flurry of posthumous honours, including the naming of chemical element 109 as meitnerium in 1997.

Cristina Lazzeroni is a Professor in Particle Physics, having previously been a Royal Society University Fellow in Physics. Cristina has published over 100 papers in international scientific journals. She is co-PI in the Particle Physics Rolling Grant and she has received a major grant from the European Union. She is an enthusiastic communicator and she frequently visits local schools.

On receiving news of her award, Professor Lazzeroni said: " I really enjoy being able to stage activities that offer people of all ages and backgrounds the possibility to share in the excitement of particle physics.  I'm delighted by today's award, which I see as recognition both of the value of these activities and of the contributions of the many, many people who've helped make them possible."

You can find out more about Professor Lazzeroni's award by following the link below:IOP - 2019 Lise Meitner Medal and Prize

Institute of Physics President, Professor Dame Julia Higgins said:

“Every year I am reminded of the rich pool of exceptional talent we have in the UK and Ireland. On behalf of the Institute of Physics, I warmly congratulate all this year’s winners.

 “As we move rapidly into an ever more technological era, it is so important to encourage, foster and support today’s and tomorrow’s scientists, science teachers and technicians.

They enable us to live the comfortable, healthy, well-connected lives we have become accustomed to, and they explore new boundaries to enrich our knowledge of the world we inhabit.

“As well as rewarding personal achievement, our awards also celebrate the diversity of our physics community. We are proud that our professional community is comprised of so many sections of society. We will continue to encourage everyone to explore science and will strive to remove the barriers to learning that some encounter, so that everyone who wants to, can learn and enjoy science for as long as they wish.”

All award winners will be celebrated at the Institute’s annual Awards Dinner, to be held this year on 19 November at the Royal Lancaster London Hotel, where they will be presented by the President with their medal, a prize of £1,000 and a certificate.