In its 15th edition, theL’Oréal-UNESCO International Program “For Women in Science”has selected five pioneering researchers who have changed the way of thinking in areas of Physical Sciences and who “have given the world a better understanding of how nature works”, explained Irina Bokova, Director General of UNESCO, during the ceremony held last week in Paris.
A) Yes,Francisca Nneka Okeke, Professor of Physics at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, and Laureate for Africa and the Arab States, has been awarded for her significant contribution in understanding thedaily variations of ionic currents in the upper atmosphere, a work that will help deepen our knowledge of climate change. The AsianReiko Kuroda, from the Tokyo Scientific University (Japan), has been recognized for the functional importance of its ddiscovery of the difference between chiral molecules, which has wide applications on neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s. And in Europe the award went toPratibha Gai, from the University of York (United Kingdom), who modified his electron microscope to observe the chemical reactions that occur inatoms on the surface of catalysts, which will contribute to the development of new drugs and energy sources.
To the list of winners is addedMarcia Barbosa, director of the Institute of Physics of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, who has been awarded for her ddiscovery of an anomaly in the water, a finding that could lead to a better understanding of how earthquakes occur and how proteins fold, which would be essential for the treatment of certain diseases. YDeborah Jin, from the University of Colorado (USA), has been honored for being lthe first scientist to cool molecules down to observe chemical reactions at idle speed, which could improve our knowledge of molecular processes, important for medicine and for finding new sources of energy.
Founded in 1998, the L’Oréal-UNESCO “For Women in Science” program has awarded 77 researchers from around the world, two of them Nobel Laureates in Medicine and Chemistry. Its aim is to make science a more accessible profession for women, who make up less than 30% of physicists and engineers in the world’s knowledge-based economies.
