Prof. Forsyth wins Galileo Galilei Award

ACES Associate Director Prof. Maria Forsyth from Deakin University has won the Galileo Galilei Award at the International Symposium on Polymer Electrolytes (ISPE-12) held in Uppsala, Sweden.

The Scientific Committee of the Symposium awarded Prof. Forsyth the prize, which is to recognise scientists who, through brilliant and innovative research outcomes, have made essential contributions to the understand and improvement of ion-conducting materials.

The Award is established in the city of Padova, Italy, one of the most significant locations in the tradition of Classical and Humanistic culture worldwide.

Galileo Galilei lived and taught in Padova for eighteen years; and it was in Padova that his brilliant research efforts consolidated and revolutionised the experimental inductive method of science. In the course of the following centuries, this method transformed the various fields of science into the propulsive hearts of modern human technology and lifestyle.

The Award is named after Galileo Galilei for the historical reasons mentioned above, and to emphasize the fact that ion conductors are the “center of the universe” in the development of devices for the conversion and storage of energy.

Michel Armand, Michael Gratzel and Peter Wright (the first discoverer of conduction in PEO complexes) were the first Galileo Galilei winners in 2010.

Pictured from left Prof.  Daniel Brandell (ISPE-XV) Chairman, Uppsala University Sweden, Prof. Patrik Johansson  (ISPE-XV) Chairman, Charmers  University of Technology Sweden, Maria Forsyth and Prof. Vito Di Noto Department of Chemical Sciences, Italy.