Authors: Andreas Dinklage (AP), Hana Barankova (IP), Eva Kovacevic (IP), Mervi Mantsinen (EC) and Monica Spolaore (PP) (Prize coordinators respectively for the Alfvén-Prize (AP), Innovation Prize (IP), Early Career Prize (EP) and PhD Prize (PP))

The EPS Plasma Physics Division asks you to consider nominating a suitable person or persons for the:

• 2025 Alfvén Prize
• 2025 Innovation Prize
• 2025 PhD Research Award
  
• 2025 EPS-PPCF Sylvie-Jaquemot Early Career Prize

which will be presented at our next annual conference, to be held in Vilnius, Lithuania in 2025, (July 7th -11th).

The deadlines for nominations are:

• Alfvén Prize: Monday, November 11th 2024 (23:59 central European time).
• Innovation Prize: Friday, February 14th 2025 (23:59 central European time).
• 2025 PhD Research Award : call open from October 1st to November 22nd 2024
• 2025 EPS-PPCF Sylvie-Jaquemot Early Career Prize: Friday, February 28th 2025 (23:59 central European time).

The descriptions of the prizes and the relevant nomination forms can be found at http://plasma.ciemat.es/eps/awards
Please note that nominations from previous years will not automatically be considered for this year's prizes, but we encourage you to re-submit any still suitable and promising nomination that has so far been unsuccessful.

The international physics community has a diverse and global membership, and both nominees and recipients of EPS awards need to reflect that diversity to ensure that all physicists have an opportunity to be recognized for their impact in the field. Nominations of individuals from groups that are historically underrepresented in physics, such as women, LGBT+ scientists, scientists from a Black or other minority ethnic background, scientists who are refugees or have been displaced from their country of birth, disabled scientists, and scientists from institutions with limited resources, are especially encouraged.
Nominees for and holders of EPS awards are expected to meet certain standards of professional conduct and integrity. In particular they have an obligation to avoid fabrication, falsification and plagiarism, and they have an obligation to treat people well, which prohibits abuse of power, requires fair and respectful relationships with colleagues, subordinates and students, and eschews bias, whether implicit or explicit. Violations of these standards may disqualify people from consideration or lead to revocation of awards.

We are delighted to announce that Prof. Anton Zeilinger has been elected as an EPS Honorary Member at the EPS Council Meeting of 27^th March 2024. EPS honorary members are individuals that the EPS wishes to recognise for their exceptional achievements in physics, whether in research, industry and/or education. Prof. Zeilinger’s distinction is in recognition of:

"Outstanding achievements in fundamental and applied quantum physics, encompassing quantum teleportation, novel entangled states and related applications such as quantum communication, quantum cryptography, and quantum computation; and for exceptional services to the European physics community."

Prof. Zeilinger is an Emeritus Professor at the University of Vienna. In 2022 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics alongside Alain Aspect and John Clauser.

Prof Zeilinger has also worked tirelessly for the European Physics Community. He is a former President of  the Austrian Physical Society and the Austian Academy of Sciences and he has been at the forefront of the development of a European Quantum Technology Strategy.

Anton Zeilinger at the annual meeting of the Austrian Physical Society in September 2022 in Leoben where he received the honorary membership of the ÖPG.

Author: Silvia Nicolai

The « Institut de Physique Nucléaire » (IPN) in Orsay, France, was recently added to the list of the Historic Sites of the European Physical Society. The laboratory, which recently became part of the Laboratoire Irène Joliot Curie (IJCLab), received this recognition with the following motivation: « Initiated in 1956 by Irène and Frédéric Joliot-Curie as an extension outside Paris of the renowned « Radium Institute » founded by Marie Curie, where in 1934 they had discovered artificial radioactivity, and of the « Nuclear Chemistry Laboratory » founded by Frédéric Joliot, the IPN hosted the first French big accelerator (a synchrocyclotron) which started operating in 1958. The creation of the IPN motivated the development of the Orsay scientific pole. Since then the IPN, which has now become part of the IJCLab laboratory, played and plays a pivotal role in the study of nuclear and hadronic physics, and beyond. »

The inclusion of IPN Orsay to the list of Historic Sites of EPS was celebrated on October 13 2023 in the Joliot-Curie amphitheater of IJCLab, with a half-day event comprising a ceremony and a mini-conference. The director of IJCLab, Achille Stocchi, opened the ceremony with a welcome speech, followed by a few words by Michel Guidal, deputy vice-president for research of the Paris-Saclay University and former director of IPN, and by Marcella Grasso, deputy scientific director of IN2P3 and former director of the Research Division at IPN. Then Luc Bergé, president of EPS, presented the role and activities of EPS, and, in particular, described the Historic Sites program. Finally, a commemorative plaque dedicated to Irène and Frédéric Joliot-Curie, showcasing the motivation for the recognition and the EPS logo, was unveiled by Luc Bergé along with Hélène Joliot-Langevin, daughter of Irène and Frédéric Joliot-Curie, and Alison Bruce, Chair of the Nuclear Physics Division Board of EPS. Other members of the NPD Board and the former directors of IPN also took part in the unveiling.

The mini-conference focused on the history of IPN, from its beginnings to nowadays. Hélène Joliot-Langevin, emeritus research director at CNRS and former director of the Physics Division at IPN Orsay, opened the conference presenting the origins of IPN in the historical context of the end of World-War II. She outlined, in particular, the efforts her parents made to reinstate France at the forefront of nuclear-physics research in Europe, and their political investment for a pacific use of nuclear power. Then Joel Pouthas, former director of the “Detectors and R&D” Division at IPN and historian of physics, gave an in-depth lecture on the history of IPN from its beginnings to recent years, a history marked by the construction and operation of various accelerators, made possible by several notable scientists supported by an outstanding staff of engineers and technicians. The former director of IPN, Sydney Galès, presented an overview of the scientific highlights of IPN throughout its more than 60 years of history, which spanned from low-energy nuclear physics, to hadron and high-energy physics, theory, radiochemistry, accelerators technology, and medical and societal applications of nuclear physics. The mini-conference was closed by a presentation of Silvia Leoni, professor of the Università di Milano and INFN scientist, which focused on the role of IPN in European low-energy nuclear physics, with a particular focus on the main achievements of the last ~15 years as well as on ongoing and future projects and collaborations.

All the presentations, photos, and a video-recording of the event can be found on the indico page: https://indico.ijclab.in2p3.fr/event/9821/

Luc Bergé, Hélène Joliot-Langevin, and Alison Bruce unveil the commemorative plaque - image credit: Silvia Nicolai

The presidents of EPS and SFP (French Physical Society), the speakers, the deputy director of IJCLab, the former directors of IPN, and the members of the NPD-EPS Board pose with the commemorative plaque at the end of the half-day event.

Author: Ionut Topala

On the 22nd May 2023, the Faculty of Physics of the Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iași (UAIC) has been named a “Historic Site” by the European Physical Society (EPS). The Faculty of Physics in Iasi is only the second Romanian institution to receive this honour, after the Magurele Physics Campus in 2017.

A plaque declaring the Faculty of Physics at the Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iași (UAIC) as an EPS Historic Site was unveiled near the Dean’s office by the EPS representative, Prof. Goran Djordjević, member of the EPS HS committee. The messages from Prof. Luc Bergé, EPS President, Prof. Karl Grandin, EPS Historic Sites Committee president, and Prof. Djordjević himself have been conveyed during the meeting and appreciated by all participants. “I’m confident that this moment will act as a model for all next generation of students in Physics here in Iași” said Prof. Gheorghe Popa, former Secretary of State for Research in Romania and former Rector of Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iași.

The participants were made up of former and actual decision-makers at Faculty of Physics: Cristian Enachescu, Dean of the Faculty of Physics, Ionut Topala, Deputy Dean and president of Romanian Physics Society Iasi Branch, Alexandru Stancu, founder of the Museum of the Faculty, Violeta Georgescu, former Deputy Dean and Dumitru Luca, former Dean and Vice-Rector.

The EPS Historic Site plaque is a symbol to recognise that the city of Iași has been at the forefront of physics research in the region. As mentioned on the plaque, some of the scientific landmarks which shaped the world of physics are “the successful bone X-ray imaging and X-ray experiments (1896-1906) and the first scientific paper describing the effect of magnetic fields on chemical reactions (1894), both published by Dragomir Hurmuzescu. Another landmark is the first correct calculation of the theoretical magneton, the physical constant still used to describe the magnetic moment of an electron by Stefan Procopiu (1912-1913). In addition, since 1849, Teodor Stamati and later Stefan Procopiu had developed significant observations on geomagnetism in Romania. The Faculty of Physics has come a long way since then, becoming a distinct department at UAIC in 1962”.

The inauguration continued with the ceremony of awarding the title of Doctor Honoris Causa of the Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iași to Dr. Dumitru Dorin Prunariu, the first and only Romanian to go to perform a scientific mission in space.  

Visitors can now start their journey with this EPS Historic Site plaque and then continue with the Physics museum at Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iași, there where pieces of instruments and laboratory equipment dating back from late nineteenth and early twentieth century can be admired.

More information

• Faculty of Physics, UAIC
• Article about the inauguration in Romanian
• Article about the Doctor Honoris Causa ceremony in Romanian
• EPS Historic Sites

The plaque for the EPS Historic Site, Faculty of Physics at Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iași, Romania - image credit: Ionut Topala

FLTR: Ionut Topala, Violeta Georgescu, Gheorghe Popa,Alexandru Stancu, Radu Tanasa,
Cristian Enachescu, Dumitru Prunariu,Dumitru Luca, Goran Djordjević

The main building of Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iași, Romania, hosting the Faculty of Physics

FLTR: Ionut Topala, Alexandru Stancu, Goran Djordjević, Cristian Enachescu

EPS Fellows

EPS Members are invited to nominate EPS Individual Members as EPS Fellows. Individuals whose achievements in physics, whether in research, industry or education and/or through commitment to the EPS warrant specific recognition are eligible to become EPS Fellows. Nominations should be sent to EPS Secretary General, David Lee, by 15th January 2023.

More information about EPS Fellows, including the list of current EPS Fellows and the rules for nomination, is available on the EPS website.

Honorary Members

EPS Members are invited to nominate outstanding individuals as Honorary Members of the EPS.
Distinguished persons whose outstanding achievements in physics or a related science whom the European Physical Society especially desires to honour can be elected EPS Honorary Members. In addition, distinguished individuals whom the EPS may desire to honour for exceptional service to the Society in furtherance of its aims and objectives shall also be eligible to become Honorary Members.

Nominations should be made no later than 15th January 2023 to EPS Secretary General, David Lee.

More information, including the list of current EPS Honorary Members and the rules for nomination, is available on the EPS website.

Gero Thomas medal

The Gero Thomas Commemorative Medal was created in 2000 to honour the memory of G. Thomas, who was the Secretary General of the EPS from 1973 to 1997 and played an essential role in the growth and the development of the Society. The Commemorative Medal is awarded to individuals for their outstanding service to the Society. More information about the award, and a list of recipients can be found here: http://www.eps.org/?page=distinction_prize_gt 

EPS Members (Member Societies, Individual Members, and Associate members) are invited to make nominations for the 2023 Gero Thomas Commemorative Medal. 

Nominations should be made no later than 15th January 2023 to EPS Secretary General, David Lee.

Please note that The Medal may not be awarded to any person currently member or having been member of the Executive Committee in the past three years.  To complete the nomination, the nominator is asked to provide the following documents:
(i) The references of the nominee (Name, first name, full postal address, email address, phone and fax numbers)
(ii) A description of the services of the individual to the Society (maximum & A4 page)
(iii) A suggested citation (maximum 250 words)
(iv) Nominee's academic and professional background, and professional honours
(v) Three supporters statements 

All proposals will be treated in confidence. Although they will be acknowledged there will be no further communication.

The EPS Achievement Award

The EPS Achievement Award is given annually by the European Physical Society for excellent contributions to the promotion and development of: EPS Divisions or their Sections; EPS Groups; EPS Committees. This award recognises activities, and achievements, which have favoured EPS internal collaboration and effectively promoted the image and the impact of the EPS within the scientific community, policy makers and other stakeholders

More information about the award can be found here: https://www.eps.org/page/distinction_prize_AA

Nominations should be made no later than 15th January 2023 to EPS Secretary General, David Lee.