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Top female physicist delivers the Holweck lecture in London
November 26, 2003Dr Catherine Bréchignac, director of research at the Centre Nationale de Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), France, gave the Holweck Prize lecture on Friday 21 November 2003 as the first female winner of this prestigious prize, awarded annually jointly by the Institute of Physics and the Société Fran'§aise de Physique (French Physical Society).
Catherine Bréchignac was awarded the Holweck Prize for her contributions to the study of free clusters of atoms and clusters of atoms deposited on surfaces. A cluster of atoms is a group of between a few and a few tens of thousands of atoms grouped together; the study of which has opened new fields of research. Catherine Bréchignac concentrated on two particular themes in her lecture, "Matter at the nanometre scale: the cluster approach". Firstly, she spoke of the unique behaviour of metallic clusters, which have some surprising properties. For instance, whereas the gold we are used to on the large scale is completely unreactive, gold clusters are chemically reactive. Secondly, she spoke about the 'self assembly' of nanochains, as the future of nanotechnology depends crucially on being able to build uniform structures. In self-assembly, objects are simultaneously formed and organised, producing uniform structures.
Professor David Wallace, President of the Institute of Physics, presented Catherine Bréchignac with the award. He said:
"I thoroughly enjoyed Catherine's lecture and was delighted that she was awarded the Holweck Medal and Prize. She has done pioneering work on the motion of electrons in nanoscale clusters, which is at the frontier between atomic and condensed matter physics. The Institute and the Société Fran'§aise de Physique are proud to recognise the achievements of such an eminent physicist."
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