Professor Erminia Calabrese awarded 2022 Institute of Physics Fred Hoyle Medal and Prize

Professor Erminia Calabrese, from Cardiff University’s School of Physics and Astronomy, has been awarded the 2022 Institute of Physics Fred Hoyle Medal and Prize.

Professor Calabrese, Deputy Director of Research, received her award for distinguished work on observational cosmology using the Cosmic Microwave Background to study the origins, content and evolution of the universe, and to probe new regimes of physics.

The Institute of Physics (IOP) is the professional body and learned society for physics, and the leading body for practising physicists, in the UK and Ireland.

Its annual awards proudly reflect the wide variety of people, places, organisations and achievements that make physics such an exciting discipline.

The IOP awards celebrate physicists at every stage of their career; from those just starting out through to physicists at the peak of their careers, and those with a distinguished career behind them.

They also recognise and celebrate companies which are successful in the application of physics and innovation, as well as employers who demonstrate their commitment and contribution to scientific and engineering apprenticeship schemes.

Professor Calabrese said: “It is a great honour for me to receive this award. I have been very lucky to work in the field of observational cosmology during a decade which has seen tremendous progress driven by unprecedented cosmic microwave background observations and by the huge effort of international teams working together to analyse them.

Institute of Physics President, Professor Sheila Rowan, said: “On behalf of the Institute of Physics, I warmly congratulate all of this year’s Award winners. Each and every one of them has made a significant and positive impact in their profession, whether as a researcher, teacher, industrialist, technician or apprentice.

“Recent events have underlined the absolute necessity to encourage and reward our scientists and those who teach and encourage future generations. We rely on their dedication and innovation to improve many aspects of the lives of individuals and of our wider society."

Professor Peter Smowton, Head of School, added: “The whole school is delighted to congratulate Professor Calabrese on her achievement. As the citation states, Erminia’s  major achievements and continuing influence at the forefront of observational cosmology are fully deserving of recognition through the award of the Fred Hoyle Medal.”

The award marks the second time the School has won the prestigious medal in recent years. Professor Jane Greaves triumphed in 2017 for her significant contribution to the understanding of planet formation and exoplanet habitability through her seminal imaging of debris discs around Sun-like stars and solar system bodies using far-infrared telescopes.