The European Physical Society is happy to announce that the winter 2021 EPS Emmy Noether Distinction is awarded to:

María Pilar López Sancho,

Research Professor and researcher at the Instituto de Ciencias de Materiales de Madrid (ICMM) of the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC) on the Cantoblanco Campus near Madrid, Spain, “For her contributions to the understanding of the electronic structure of low-dimensional materials and in recognition of her continuous, tireless and successful actions for the empowerment of women in physics.”

Pilar López Sancho works in the Department of Theoretical Condensed Matter Physics at ICMM. She obtained her PhD from the Universidad Complutense de Madrid in 1979, and went on to work for CSIC at what is today the ICMM, where she remained till today. A theoretical physicist working in the field of condensed matter systems, Pilar made her first important contributions by developing a new and fast method for the calculation of bulk- and surface electronic Green’s functions and transfer matrices. It is a remarkable feat that this work remains of high actual value, being used by many groups around the world, and enjoying higher citations today than ever before, placing Pilar’s publications solidly in the “evergreen” class, and demonstrating Pilar’s insight and acuity for choosing relevant problems.

Pilar López Sancho went on to work to apply her methods to metallic interfaces and dilute magnetic semiconductors. However, her most significant contributions are on the electronic structure and transport properties of low-dimensional carbon systems. Pilar thus performed groundbreaking work on the effect of the Coulomb- and spin-orbit interaction on electronic localisation and spin-dependent transport in carbon nanotubes. Highly noticed and much-cited more recent work by Pilar concerned the induction of localised states and magnetism by different types of topological defects in graphene, and the effects of the spin-orbit interaction on electronic transport in single-layer and multilayer transition metal dichalcogenides.

Alongside this very successful scientific career, María Pilar López Sancho has pursued what can be called an impressive “second career” as a never-tiring advocate for women in physics. Starting from the mid nineteen-nineties, Pilar has been continuously active for the defence of women in physics, at all levels. In 2001, she is the co-founder of the Association of Women in Research and Technology AMIT[1], of which she becomes the President from 2009 to 2013. AMIT, a member organisation of the European Platform of Women Scientists, has grown to be a powerful association of women in all scientific disciplines and at all stages of their careers, and has more than 1000 members. Pilar is also the founder of the Women in Physics Group of the RSEF and was its Chair from 2002-2018.

In her institution, the CSIC, Pilar was at the origin of and lent priceless support to the creation of the CSIC Gender Equality Distinction. She has been delegate president of the Women and Science Commission of CSIC, the first institutional commission of this type created in Spain. Pilar has taken responsibilities in the Commission for Equality - launched to implement the plan of the General Spanish State Administration.

Pilar López Sancho performed large-scale research on position of women in science, published more than 30 articles, books, and conference papers on the topic, and presented dozens of lectures. As a recognised international expert on the matter, she has served on the Evaluation Committee for projects and grants financed by the European Commission in the programs "Monitoring Progress Towards Gender Equality (FP6)" (2005-2007) and "Meta-Analysis of Gender and Science Research" (FP7) (2008-2010). During the period 2015-2017, she was the Spanish Deputy in the Helsinki Group for Research and Innovation.

More info:

• web page about Pilar López Sancho
  
• EPS Emmy Noether Distinction
  

• Sara Bolognesi

of the Institut de Recherche sur les lois Fondamentales de l’Univers – Institute of Research on the Fundamental laws of the Universe of the CEA (IRFU) – Commissariat aux Energies Atomiques et Alternatives (CEA), Saclay, France, “For her development of the data analysis techniques that conclusively improved the sensitivity of the CERN-CMS experiment, thus allowing the discovery of the Higgs boson and the first measurement of its spin and parity.”

Sara Bolognesi is a particle physicist known for directing several foremost programmes for physical research, and for making decisive proposals for experiments and instrumentation. Thus, Sara has been a key contributor to many different topics in CERN-CMS, including Higgs phenomenology, where she helped in developing and testing a new Monte Carlo generator (Phantom) to study Higgs production in Vector Boson Fusion and Vector Boson Scattering; the first LHC data, where she contributed to Electro-Weak physics analysis (Z,W+jets production), worked on jet reconstruction, Beta-physics and quarkonia; and the mapping of the 4 T magnetic field as well as the detector commissioning for the Drift Tube Barrel muon system. Most importantly though, Sara developed a Matrix Element analytical Likelihood Analysis (MELA) to best separate signal from background by optimizing the use of the information on production and decay angles of the Higgs. This method increased the performance of the analysis to the point where the Higgs-like resonance at 125 GeV could be observed at 3 sigma significance in the HZZ4ℓ channel in the summer of 2012. After that, the MELA method allowed the CMS collaboration to reach the 5 sigma significance necessary to claim a discovery, making the analysis of the HZZ4ℓ decay channel in CMS the most significant Higgs analysis at LHC0.

Sara Bolognesi's made a deeply insightful career move when, after the discovery of the Higgs boson, she changed from her activities at CMS to the Tokai to Kamioka (T2K) collaboration. Within the scope of the T2K collaboration, Sara has been instrumental in organising the community and coordinating the experiments that lead to the first detection of possible CP violation in leptons. Sara is also very much involved in teaching, and has had an impressive series of students; she is often invited to teach in schools. She currently holds a large number of responsibilities in IRFU as well as in many international committees and collaborations, where, beyond her decisive scientific input, she is also a foremost advocate for the cause of women in physics.

An interview from Sara Bolognesi by Kees van der Beek, chair of the EPS Equal Opportunities, will soon be released.

Sara Bolognesi acting on the valves of the gas system of the near detector (ND280) of T2K - image credit: Sara Bolognesi

More info about the EPS Emmy Noether Distinction

• EPS Emmy Noether Distinction awardees
  
• Call for the Winter 2021 edition
  

In 2013, the European Physical Society launched the Emmy Noether Distinction to recognise noteworthy women physicists having a strong connection to Europe through their nationality or work.

Emmy Noether, with her fundamental and revolutionary work in the areas of abstract algebra and on the conservation laws in theoretical physics, is an exceptional historical figure for all generations - past, present and future - of physicists.

The laureates of the Emmy Noether Distinction are chosen for their capacity to inspire the next generation of scientists, and especially encourage women to pursue a career in physics. Attribution criteria are based on research achievements, coordination of projects and management, committee memberships and teaching activities. The nominees should also be recognized by their peers as role models in the physics community.

The EPS Emmy Noether Distinction for Women in Physics is awarded twice a year, in winter and in summer.

The selection committee, appointed by the EPS Equal Opportunities Committee, will consider nominations of women physicists working in Europe for the 2020 Summer Edition of the Emmy Noether Distinction from May 2020.

For the present edition, nominations will be received until Friday, April 18th, 2020.

To make a nomination, please, email the following information to the EPS Secretariat:

• A cover letter, detailing (in no more than 3 paragraphs) the motivation for awarding the EPS Emmy Noether Distinction to the nominee;
• The nominee’s name, institution and email;
• The nominee’s CV;
• The nominator’s name, institution, and email.
• Optional: No more than 3 support letters.

Download the distinction charter and read more about the EPS Emmy Noether Distinction on the EPS website.