Beatriz Noheda is a professor at the

University of Groningen The University of Groningen (abbreviated as UG; , abbreviated as RUG) is a Public university#Continental Europe, public research university of more than 30,000 students in the city of Groningen (city), Groningen, Netherlands. Founded in 1614, th ...

and the director of the Groningen Cognitive Systems and Materials Center (CogniGron ). She is particularly well known for discovering the monoclinic phase at the morphotropic phase boundary in

lead zirconate titanate Lead zirconate titanate, also called lead zirconium titanate and commonly abbreviated as PZT, is an inorganic compound with the chemical formula . It is a ceramic perovskite material that shows a marked piezoelectric effect, meaning that the comp ...

(PZT) and other piezoelectrics, for her pioneering work in

ferroelectric In physics and materials science, ferroelectricity is a characteristic of certain materials that have a spontaneous electric polarization that can be reversed by the application of an external electric field. All ferroelectrics are also piezoel ...

hafnia and for the development of

memristor A memristor (; a portmanteau of ''memory resistor'') is a non-linear two-terminal electrical component relating electric charge and magnetic flux linkage. It was described and named in 1971 by Leon Chua, completing a theoretical quartet of ...

Education

Noheda received her PhD in 1996 from the

Autonomous University of Madrid The Autonomous University of Madrid (; UAM), commonly known as la Autónoma, is a Spanish public university located in Madrid, Spain. The university was founded in 1968 by royal decree. UAM is widely respected as one of the most prestigious univ ...

Career and research

The centre of interest of Noheda is linking the atomic structure of functional oxides. For example, her group has used

X-ray diffraction X-ray diffraction is a generic term for phenomena associated with changes in the direction of X-ray beams due to interactions with the electrons around atoms. It occurs due to elastic scattering, when there is no change in the energy of the waves. ...

and

high-resolution electron microscopy High-resolution transmission electron microscopy is an imaging mode of specialized transmission electron microscopes that allows for direct imaging of the atomic structure of samples. It is a powerful tool to study properties of materials on the ...

to reveal the existence of a rhombohedral

phase in hafnia. She conducted part of this research while being an assistant physicist at the

Brookhaven National Laboratory Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) is a United States Department of Energy national laboratories, United States Department of Energy national laboratory located in Upton, New York, a hamlet of the Brookhaven, New York, Town of Brookhaven. It w ...

and now as a full professor at the

Award and recognition

In 2020, Noheda received the

IEEE The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is an American 501(c)(3) organization, 501(c)(3) public charity professional organization for electrical engineering, electronics engineering, and other related disciplines. The IEEE ...

Robert E. Newnham Ferroelectrics Award for "her outstanding contributions to the understanding of the giant piezoelectricity in lead zirconate titanate and ferroelectric relaxors, based on her discovery of their low symmetry phases". She is a

fellow A fellow is a title and form of address for distinguished, learned, or skilled individuals in academia, medicine, research, and industry. The exact meaning of the term differs in each field. In learned society, learned or professional society, p ...

of the

American Physical Society The American Physical Society (APS) is a not-for-profit membership organization of professionals in physics and related disciplines, comprising nearly fifty divisions, sections, and other units. Its mission is the advancement and diffusion of ...

since 2011. In 2003 Noheda was one of the three recipients of a Rosalind Franklin Fellowship She is featured as one of the "100 Inspirational profiles" of Lynnette Madsen's book ''Successful Women Ceramic and Glass Scientists and Engineers''. She is also a member of editorial board for a range of scientific journals.

References

Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Academic staff of the University of Groningen Autonomous University of Madrid alumni Fellows of the American Physical Society {{Improve categories, date=June 2021