Double Recognition for ICTP Scientist

ICTP scientist Joseph Niemela has received top honours from both the Italian Physical Society as well as the American Physical Society for his scientific and outreach activities.

The Italian Physical Society (Societa' Italiana di Fisica--SIF) has awarded Niemela with the Galileo Galilei Silver Medal, offered by the Italian Society of Optics and Photonics (Societa' Italiana di Ottica e Fotonica--SIOF), "in recognition of his excellent work as international spokesperson of the International Year of Light and Light-based Technologies." The medal presentation was made by Francesco Baldini, President of SIOF,  on September 19 in Capri, Italy, on the occasion of  the International EOS-SIOF Capri Meeting.

Niemela is a key IYL organizer, leading the IYL Global Secretariat at ICTP, and working closely with UNESCO, the IYL lead UN agency, to promote improved public and political understanding of the central role of light in the modern world.

The American Physical Society (APS) has named Niemela, whose research interest is in fluid dynamic, as a Fellow in the Society. APS cited Niemela's significant contributions to high-precision heat transport measurements at very high Rayleigh numbers in cryogenic Rayleigh-Bénard convection, and pioneering applications of low-temperature techniques to studies of instabilities and turbulence.

Niemela is head of ICTP's Applied Physics section.