Author: EDP Sciences

We are pleased to share the latest news from EDP Sciences.

News from the European Physical Journal (EPJ)

Joint meeting of the Scientific Advisory and Steering Committees of the European Physical Journal

Image credit: Maria Sutter

For two days in April, more than 40 representatives of national physical societies and of the EPJ publishers and many of the journals’ Chief Editors gathered at EMPA (Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology) near Zurich under the chairmanship of the Swiss Physical Society to discuss all aspects of modern scientific publishing - ranging from individual journal development to improving support for early career researchers and the implementation of DEI principles at all levels.

In particular, the EPS Young Minds’ invited talk provided some excellent insights into what the next generation of scientists feels in terms of constraints and opportunities in this context. 2023 marks the 25^th anniversary of the launch of the EPJ and, as part of this year’s special initiatives, EPJ expressly invites young career researchers organizing, specifically, meetings for their peers to apply for sponsorship.

EPJ Applied Physics – topical issue

EPJ AP is pleased to announce completion of the special issue on “Amorphous alloys and multiscale materials: Fundamental aspects and Energy applications” edited by Zhao Zhankui, Wang Hongli and Tai Cheuk-Wai. We hope you enjoy the articles which include “Micro- and nano-sized materials for solar evaporators: a review”.

EPJ Photovoltaics – Editorial Board

EPJ Photovoltaics is pleased to share its updated Editorial Board under Editors-in-Chief Prof. Pere Roca i Cabarrocas, Laboratoire de Physique des Interfaces et des Couches Minces, and Dr. Jean-Louis Lazzari, Centre Interdisciplinaire de Nanoscience de Marseille. Editors from Europe are joined by international colleagues from Qatar, Australia and Japan.

EPJ N Nuclear Sciences & Technologies – new ‘Key Summary’

“Optimising spent nuclear fuel storage in Europe” is the latest ‘Key Summary’ from EPJ N and looks at an extensive review in EPJ N by members of the EURAD consortium. The review explores the parameters involved in choosing safe long-term storage solutions for spent radioactive fuel and recommends best practice for the industry. The ‘Key Summary’ also hears from author Dimitri Alexandre Rochman.

Astronomy & Astrophysics and Subscribe to Open (S2O)

Astronomy & Astrophysics (A&A) recently announced that it will continue to publish its research in open access for the second consecutive year under Subscribe to Open (S2O). In contrast to other core astronomy journals that have transitioned or will transition to open access via the Gold (APC) route, A&A has chosen S2O to achieve immediate open access while minimizing any potential disruption to authors or subscribers. Find out more.

Société Française de Physique 150^th anniversary – Master classes itinérantes

The first in a series of five Masterclasses on “Science publishing and Open Science” recently took place in Nice. Next stop Lyon for which registration is still open!

German Physical Society Spring Meeting - Europhysics Letters

There were four winners of the “EPL best poster prizes” at the Spring Meeting of the German Physical Society (DPG) that took place from 26-31 March 2023 at the Technical University Dresden. Congratulations to Anna C. Jäkel, Aleksandr Kostarev, Nico Schramma and Laura Strampe.

Book news - The Basics of Electron Transport in Spintronics

‘The basics of electron transport in Spintronics – Textbook with lectures, exercises and solutions’ by Vincent Baltz, CNRS researcher and group leader at SPINTEC. Based on a series of lectures given to MSc and PhD students, this book will appeal to a wide range of readers, from students at the graduate level to researchers and engineers. It allows the reader to navigate easily between concepts and to gain a broad view of spin-dependent electron transport. Learning is supported by ten extended exercises with complete solutions. Order directly from the EDP Sciences Bookstore or via your favourite online book shop.

Don’t forget our SFP anniversary books discount code - PHYS234 - valid until the end of June 2024! We are delighted to offer a 5% discount on EDP Sciences books in the following series: Savoirs Actuels / Une introduction à / Sciences & History / Enseignement Sup Physique.

With our best wishes from ‘Paris in Spring’

EDP Sciences

Author: Gina Gunaratnam

The beginning of 2023 was marked by the opening ceremony of the 150th anniversary year of the French Physical Society (SFP). The event took place on 16th January in the prestigious Grand Amphithéâtre de la Sorbonne, located in the heart of Paris.

Guy Wormser, current president of the SFP, introduced the course of the afternoon, starting with the patrons of the event: Françoise Combes, laureate of the CNRS Gold Medal in 2020, and Serge Haroche, laureate of the Nobel Prize in physics in 2012. They were followed by numerous and illustrious speakers, among whom Sylvie Retailleau (French minister of high education and research), David Elbaz (research director at the CEA, French centre for nuclear research), Caroline Collard (director of the Hubert Curien Institute) and Valérie Masson-Delmotte, palaeontologist and co-president of the GIEC (Groupement d’Information et d’Etude sur le Climat/International Panel on Climate Change). All through the afternoon, various topics such as the history of the French Physical Society, the scientific and societal challenges for the future of physics and our warming planet were addressed by historians and researchers in presentations and round-table discussions.

From these exchanges, it was revealed that the Society has always been dynamic and at the cutting edge of physics, it has gathered together members from different backgrounds like scientists, philosophers and teachers since its inception. Its history was detailed in a video and presented by Olivier Darrigol (Université Paris Cité) and Denis Gutleben (CNRS), both historians of science. Famous scientists including Jean Perrin, Hubert Curien and Irène Joliot-Curie were referenced having influenced and developed the Society through the ages.

The SFP evolved with the international spread of knowledge and now represents all the fields of physics. Professor Combes, astrophysicist and laureate of numerous international awards, underlined this relevance. In her specialised field, the diversity of physics is needed for her research: condensed matter, plasma physics, vacuum, to name but a few. As for Professor Haroche, he spoke about the importance of the SFP in the internationalisation of physics by its involvement in the main physical societies throughout the world (American Physical Society, Chinese Physical Society, European Physical Society, etc.)

The French Physical Society was also mentioned as essential to science communication. Several speakers underlined the need to address challenges such as inspiring the younger generation, in particular girls. They also emphasised encouraging and supporting young women in their work. In a context of mistrust in science and success of dystopias, societies such as the SFP should play a key role to disseminate scientific knowledge.

The discussions were followed by a panel of representatives of several physical societies, who spoke of their fruitful collaborations with the SFP. Guy Wormser closed the day by inviting the participants to share a cocktail in the Réfectoire de la Sorbonne and discover the exhibition « 15 physiciennes » showing 15 female scientists. He concluded by detailing the numerous events organised all through 2023 to celebrate physics and the 150 years.

The next rendezvous is given in person in July for the SFP congress and any time online to discover all the SFP activities.

More info

• Ceremony on YouTube
• Agenda for 2023
• Exhibition of portraits of physicists "15 physiciennes"
  
• Website of the SFP
• History of the SFP in video
  

The Charpak-Ritz Prize 2022  awarded to Laura Baudis, for her leadership in international astro-particle physics collaborations, outreach activities and seminal contributions to dark matter research. 

Laura Baudis is awarded with the 2022 Charpak Ritz Price jointly given by the French Physical Society and the Swiss Physical Society. She has provided significant contributions to an increasingly burning question in astrophysics and cosmology: What holds cosmological structures together and controls the formation and evolution of galaxies, including our own Milky Way? It remains an enigma that the abundance of all known forms of matter is too low to explain the level of gravitational interaction observed in galaxies, clusters of galaxies and at the largest scales in the universe. This has triggered the hypothesis of ‘dark matter’, which is undetectable by electromagnetic interactions. The dark matter, which accounts for 85% of all matter in the universe, could be made of new elementary particles, such as Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs). The search for WIMPs has been a main pillar of Laura Baudis’ career. 

For more than a decade, experiments using two-phase (liquid and gas) xenon time projection chambers (TPCs) have yielded the world’s best sensitivity in the direct detection of WIMPs. Laura Baudis, who is a professor at University of Zürich, has played a leading role in the development of large xenon detectors with ultra-low backgrounds at their core. These are part of the collaborative XENON programme, which started with XENON10, recently operated XENON1T and currently acquires data with XENONnT.  XENON1T reached the lowest background ever observed in a dark matter detector and observed the very rare two-neutrino double electron capture process in xenon-124, an outstanding result in nuclear physics.  XENON1T is currently world-leading in providing the strongest constraints on WIMP interactions over a broad mass range. To improve the statistical sensitivity even further towards a possible detection of dark matter, an upscaled experiment XENONnT was prepared and started in 2021. Apart from her leading contributions to the TPCs, including the photosensor arrays to observe the xenon scintillation light in the VUV region, Laura Baudis has been assuming key roles in the collaboration: as co-spokesperson, chair of the collaboration board and recently as chair of the science strategy team. Towards the next generation effort DARWIN, which she also co-founded, Laura Baudis has developed crucial experimental setups and prototypes to selectively detect rare photon and electron emission events in a large volume of liquid xenon as a characteristic WIMP signature. It is also important to note that within these larger multi-national research projects a significant part of Laura Baudis’ work has been performed in collaboration with French researchers at LPNHE in Paris and the SUBATECH laboratory in Nantes. 

Next to her complex multi-lateral scientific efforts, Laura Baudis has also been actively involved in outreach activities, giving a TED talk and she features in two documentary movies about Science and Scientists (“Chasing Einstein”, “Eros und Atome” – in German).

• https://www.sfpnet.fr/laura-baudis-laureate-du-prix-charpak-ritz-2022
  
• https://www.sps.ch/en/awards/charpak-ritz-award/winner-2022

Authors: French Physical Society & Swiss Physical Society

The French Physical Society and the Swiss Physical Society  are proud to announce the 2021 winner of the Charpak-Ritz Prize:

Marie-Emmanuelle Couprie

image credit: Philippe Berteaud

Marie-Emmanuelle Couprie, researcher at the 2.75 GeV electron synchrotron SOLEIL, located south of Paris, has received this award for her outstanding contributions "in light sources using particle accelerators to emit synchrotron radiation of high spectral purity and high degrees of longitudinal and transverse coherence".

Dr. Couprie is the head of the Magnetism and Insertion Device group at SOLEIL and she is in charge of piloting the Free Electron Laser activities. She is an expert of Free Electron Laser theory and applications, she has an outstanding track record of referred publications, and she is strongly involved in the development of technologies with industries.

The Swiss Physical Society congratulates Marie-Emmanuelle Couprie warmly on this prestigious award. [More: spf-website, sps-website].

Marie-Emmanuelle Couprie will receive the Charpak-Ritz medal on 1 September 2021 in the award ceremony of the annual meeting, jointly organised by the Swiss and Austrian physical societies, 31 August to 3 September 2021 in Innsbruck, Austria, where she will also present her work in a plenary talk to the participants of the conference.

Astrid Lambrecht was awarded the Gentner-Kastler Prize 2016.
Read the presse release in French (Laboratoire Kastler-Brossel): http://www.lkb.ens.fr/astrid-lambrecht-laureate-du-prix
or in German (webite of the DPG): http://www.dpg-physik.de/preise/preistraeger2016.html#Gentner-Kastler-Preis.

Astrid Lambrecht is member of the EPS, member of EPL’s Advisory Board and member of the German Physical Society (DPG).

More about the Gentner-Kastler Prize on Wikipedia (DE).