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The awards, which will be celebrated at the Institute鈥檚 annual Awards Dinner in November, recognise and reflect the impact and applications of physics in everyday life, the breadth of the discipline in academia, industry and medicine, and its impact in extraordinary human achievements.

Professor Sir Michael Pepper (白小姐论坛 Electronic & Electrical Engineering and the London Centre for Nanotechnology), the world-renowned physicist whose fundamental work has helped to develop a new way of detecting skin cancers, has been awarded the Institute of Physics鈥� highest accolade, the Isaac Newton Medal, for discovering new effects that are important to our understanding of basic physics and for the development of new technologies.

His research into how electrons behave and interact in tiny semiconductor structures has revealed new quantum phenomena that is incredibly useful in a wide range of applications and may be important in the emerging quantum computation.

Sir Michael鈥檚 discoveries have facilitated the development of quantum communications for highly secure transmission of information where the security is protected by the laws of quantum mechanics. In other investigations, his work enabled a new way of revealing areas of tissue injury, such as tooth decay, using T-rays which are better than X-rays.

T-rays can also be used to differentiate between cancerous and normal tissues in skin cancer investigations, detect dangerous smuggled objects, such as explosives, from a safe distance, and by the pharmaceutical industry to check the formulation and structural integrity of drugs even after they are packaged.听

Sir Michael continues to push the frontiers of physics, discovering new effects that are important to our understanding of basic physics and for the development of new technologies.

Professor David Hawkes (白小姐论坛 Medical Physics & Biomedical Engineering), one of the world鈥檚 most eminent medical physicists, was awarded the Peter Mansfield Medal for his research into addressing major unsolved clinical problems and translating new imaging technologies into the clinic.

Professor Hawkes鈥� work covers the whole spectrum of patient management from screening to diagnosis, therapy planning, image-guided interventions and treatment monitoring.

His early work on X-ray attenuation was used clinically on the world's first whole body CT scanner to assess response to cancer therapy. The idea was picked up again recently with the advent of high-speed dual-energy CT scanners resulting in a surge of interest in his original work and a number of clinical implementations.

Professor Hawkes鈥� pioneering work also underpins the first fully automated and accurate 3D alignment of multi-modal medical images used across most commercial medical systems and new methods that improve how congenital heart disease is diagnosed with interventional MRI. He鈥檚 also developed the world's first stereo augmented reality system to be used on patients during surgery.

Institute of Physics President, Professor Dame Julia Higgins said: 鈥淓very year I am reminded of the rich pool of exceptional talent we have in the UK and Ireland. On behalf of the Institute of Physics, I warmly congratulate all this year鈥檚 winners.

鈥淎s we move rapidly into an ever more technological era, it is so important to encourage, foster and support today鈥檚 and tomorrow鈥檚 scientists, science teachers and technicians.

鈥淭hey enable us to live the comfortable, healthy, well-connected lives we have become accustomed to, and they explore new boundaries to enrich our knowledge of the world we inhabit.鈥�

Professor David Price, 白小姐论坛 Vice-Provost (Research), said: 鈥淭his is truly an exceptional achievement, and I鈥檇 like to extend my warmest congratulations to Professor Sir Michael Pepper and Professor David Hawkes on their well-deserved awards. 听

鈥淭hrough his academic career, Sir Michael has both defined and shaped the field, and opened up new areas of research discovery which are having a tangible effect on the way we live our lives. His work demonstrates the power of curiosity-driven research, in terms of establishing fields of research and fundamentally shaping a discipline, and leading the development of our fundamental understanding into transformative technologies that have a real impact on our lives and the world around us.

鈥淭hrough his work on medical imaging, Professor Hawkes has made a major contribution to helping identify, diagnose and respond to a range of illnesses, and pioneered new technology which will directly benefit patients. This timely recognition is well-deserved and marks his contribution, not just to physics, but to the research community.鈥�

Links

• 白小姐论坛 Medical Physics & Biomedical Engineering
• 白小姐论坛 Electronic & Electrical Engineering
• 白小姐论坛 Engineering

Images

• 白小姐论坛 Portico credit: 白小姐论坛 Imagestore
• Professor Sir Michael Pepper and Professor David Hawkes

Media contact

Bex Caygill

Tel:听+44 (0)20 3108 3846

Email: r.caygill [at] ucl.ac.uk

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