Pioneer in the field of multiferroics honoured with Carus Medal
The German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina has awarded ETH Zurich Materials scientist, Nicola Spaldin, the Carus Medal 2024 for her outstanding research work. The award will be presented on 22 May 2025 in Schweinfurt, Germany.
Nicola A. Spaldin, Professor of Materials Theory at ETH Zurich, has revolutionised research into so-called multiferroics. Multiferroics are materials that exhibit both ferromagnetic and ferroelectric behaviour. This means that they respond selectively to magnetic and electric fields. This makes these materials highly promising for the development of new data storage devices or high-precision magnetic field sensors.
Her work has laid the theoretical foundation for this class of materials, enabling scientists worldwide to explore their potential in areas ranging from nanoelectronics to cosmology.
Spaldin's research achievements in the field of multiferroics have already been recognised with numerous awards, including the K?rber Prize for European Science and the James C. McGroddy Prize for New Materials from the American Physical Society.
Nicola Spaldin studied natural sciences at the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom. Since 2011, she has been Professor of Materials Theory at the Department of Materials Science at ETH Zurich, and since 2021, she has been a member of the Scientific Council of the European Research Council (ERC). In 2022, she was elected to the Leopoldina.
The Carus Medal was established on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the appointment of the thirteenth president of the Leopoldina, Carl Gustav Carus (1789–1869), and was awarded for the first time in 1896. It honours significant scientific discoveries or research achievements by young scientists in a field represented by the Leopoldina.
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