Prize winner 2011

The winner of the 2011 IBA-Europhysics prize for Applied Nuclear Science and Nuclear Methods and Nuclear Researches in Medicine is Dr Elisabetta Boaretto.

Dr Boaretto has been awarded the prize in recognition of her significant contribution to the development of precise quality controlled radiocarbon dating and the application of accelerator mass spectrometry techniques to the field of archaeology.

Elisabetta Boaretto has pioneered the integrative approach to Radiocarbon dating in archaeology. Her projects involve extensive field work in order to collect the best possible samples for dating and to identify the best archaeological context.

She has developed novel field applicable pre-screening techniques that can be applicable in the excavations which focus the research on well defined archaeological context and sample material.

She has also introduced the use of Infrared and Raman spectroscopy for sample characterization and quality control. These methods not only increase the analytical precision and accuracy of the radiocarbon date but by relating this information to the context, a deeper understanding of the archaeology is obtained. These methods are now being used by many laboratories throughout the world.

Dr Boaretto has conducted research on understanding the structure and preservation of charred materials that are extensively used for dating. She has applied her expertise to carrying out a high resolution sub-century dating study of the Iron Age (ca. 1200-600 BC) in Israel, impacting the biblical chronology. This study resulted in developing a new approach for the selection of samples from archaeological excavations.

Dr Boaretto led the dating of a cave site, Yuchanianin Hunan (China). The study involved analyzing the cave stratigraphy, prescreening bones and charcoal, and finally the results showed that the ceramics were produced around 18,000 years ago; the oldest in the world to date.

A recent study documented the earliest appearance of Modern Homo sapiens in the Levant 46,000 years ago. For this purpose, a short excavation was carried out at Kebara Cave, Israel. This was followed by extensive characterization of the charcoal structure and preservation.

Dr Boaretto has set new standards for cross-disciplinary research and her work has set a new agenda for radiocarbon dating in archaeology.

The 2011 IBA-Europhysics Prize was presented to Dr Boaretto by Mr Yves Jongen, Chief Research Officer of the Ion Beam Applications Company (IBA) of Louvain-la-Neuve, which sponsors the prize at a ceremony on 30th May during the first International Conference on Advances in Radioactive Isotope Science, ARIS 2011, held in Leuven, Belgium. Dr Douglas MacGregor, Chair of the IBA Prize Committee and Secretary of the EPS Nuclear Physics Division, presented a diploma on behalf of the EPS.

Prize winners of previous years

2009 Prof. Pier Andrea Mandò (Department of Physics, University of Florence and INFN)
for "Outstanding and seminal contributions to the application of the Ion Beam Analysis techniques in the field of Cultural Heritage studies, favoring the birth of a new interdisciplinary research area that bring together scientific and humanistic skills."
The Prize will be awarded at the 2009 Ion Beam Analysis Conference to be held 7-11 September in Cambridge.

2007 Dr. Dieter Schardt (GSI, Germany) and Prof. Wolfgang Enghardt (Center for Radiation Research in Oncology, Medical Faculty, T. U. Dresden )
for "Outstanding contributions to the development of tumour therapy with heavy ions, providing detailed information on the interaction of ions with biological tissues and novel techniques for treatment quality assurance".
The 2007 IBA Prize was presented during the 9th ECAART (European Conference on Accelerators in Applied Research and Technology) in Firenze, Italy, September 3-7, 2007.

2005 Werner Heil (Johannes Gutenberg Universität Mainz, Germany) and Pierre Jean Nacher (Laboratoire Kastler Brossel, ENS Paris, France)
for "the development of spin polarized 3He targets by optical pumping and their applications in nuclear science and medicine: nuclear physics, neutron low temperature physics and medicine".

2004 Guy Demortier (Laboratoires d'Analyses par Réactions Nucléaires, Facultés Universitaires Notre Dame de la Paix, 61 rue de Bruxelles, B 5000 Namur)
"For outstanding and innovative research in many and various fields of applied nuclear physics namely in new materials, catalysts, biological material, archaeology and nuclear medicine and, most notably, resulting in ways to improve PET-scans ."

Dr Boaretto