In other awards news this week, I'm please to note that my friend, colleague, (and apparent comrade-in-arms in the "fight for the theory") Ruth Gregory has been awarded the Institute of Physics' Maxwell Prize and Medal.
"For her contributions to physics at the interface of general relativity and string theory, in particular for her work on the physics of cosmic strings and black holes."
The press release says, among other things:
Dr Ruth Gregory, a young physicist from the University of Durham, has been awarded the 2006 Maxwell Medal for her outstanding work trying to understand the underlying structure of the universe. Working at the interface between general relativity and string theory, Dr Gregory has made important contributions to cosmic strings, black holes and brane worlds (a model which says all matter in the universe is trapped on a surface with three spatial dimensions, like dust particles on soap bubbles. This 3-D surface is known as a "brane", a name derived from membrane, the 2-D equivalent).
Amazingly enough, according to their list of past winners, this is the first time a woman has been awarded this prize, so it's good news that the IOP is finally getting that part of things right. I should mention here that this is well deserved. Ruth (a CPT member at Durham who's in the Department of Mathematical Sciences and in the Department of Physics) is as sharp as a... sharp thing..., has done some really good work over several years, and is one of the few people in the field who has the dubious priviledge of having an instability named after her (with Ray Laflamme). The IOP have announced their annual awards (including the Dirac, the Maxwell, the Rutherford, the Kelvin, the Bragg....you get the idea) here, and it's an interesting list of names, as always. (More general information about the prizes and what they are intended to honour can be found here.) The awards (medals, certificates, cheques, gift baskets, etc) will be presented in January at a really swanky awards dinner at the Savoy Hotel in London. Congratulations Ruth! -cvj
