The Katharine Burr Blodgett Medal and Prize is a gold medal awarded annually by the

Institute of Physics The Institute of Physics (IOP) is a UK-based not-for-profit learned society and professional body that works to advance physics education, physics research, research and applied physics, application. It was founded in 1874 and has a worldwide ...

to "recognise contributions to the organisation or application of physics in an industrial or commercial context." The medal is accompanied by a prize of £1000.

History

At its inception in 2008, the award was named the "Business and Innovation Medal". In 2012, it was renamed the "Swan Medal and Prize" in memory of Sir

Joseph Swan Sir Joseph Wilson Swan Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS (31 October 1828 – 27 May 1914) was an English physicist, chemist, and inventor. He is known as an independent early developer of a successful incandescent light bulb, and is respon ...

, a chemist, physicist, and early developer of the incandescent light bulb. Since 2016, the award was renamed again to commemorate

Katharine Burr Blodgett Katharine Burr Blodgett (January 10, 1898 – October 12, 1979) was an American physicist and chemist known for her work on surface chemistry, in particular her invention of "invisible" or nonreflective glass while working at General Electric. S ...

, inventor of low-reflectance "invisible" glass (

Langmuir–Blodgett film A Langmuir–Blodgett (LB) film is an emerging kind of 2D materials to fabricate heterostructures for nanotechnology, formed when Langmuir films—or Langmuir monolayers (LM)—are transferred from the liquid-gas interface to solid supports durin ...

), and the first woman to receive a degree in physics from

Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

Medallists

The following have been award one of these medals:

Katharine Burr Blodgett Medal and Prize

*2024 Christopher Dorman "for contributions to the laser industry, through executive leadership and community engagement" *2022 Andrew James Shields for "pioneering industrial R&D over two decades on quantum communication devices and systems" *2021 Brian Corbett for "serial identification and creation of breakthrough innovative photonic device technology solutions" *2020 Drew Nelson for "pioneering efforts in commercialising compound semiconductor materials" *2019

Chris Hancock Chris is a short form of various names including Christopher, Christian, Christina, and Christine. Chris is also used as a name in its own right, however it is not as common. People with the given name *Chris Abani (born 1966), Nigerian author ...

for "designing and patenting an electro-surgery platform." *2018 Michael Begg and James Ramage, Tesla Engineering, for "the transformation of Tesla Engineering Ltd from a manufacturer of conventional magnets for particle accelerators into a world leader of magnets for high-energy physics, MRI and oncology equipment." *2017 Cliff Jones,

University of Leeds The University of Leeds is a public research university in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It was established in 1874 as the Yorkshire College of Science. In 1884, it merged with the Leeds School of Medicine (established 1831) and was renamed Y ...

, for "inventions in the area of liquid crystal displays, and his role in the founding and commercial success of Displaydata." *2016 Graeme Malcolm,

M Squared Lasers M Squared Lasers is a company headquartered in Glasgow, Scotland with a subsidiary, M Squared Lasers Inc., based in San Jose, California. It was established in 2005 by Graeme Malcolm and Gareth Maker who had previously been directors of Microlas ...

for "his role in founding M Squared Lasers, and his contribution to the design and manufacture of transformative award-winning photonics products."

Swan Medal and Prize

*2015

Iain Baikie Iain Douglas Baikie, (born 27 August 1960) is a Scottish physicist, inventor and company Director. He specialises in Material Science. Baikie supervises PhDs at Imperial College London and the University of St Andrews in thin-film electronics. ...

, KP Technology, for "contributions to the development of Kelvin Probe (KP) method instrumentation." *2014 Michael Christopher Payne,

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

, for "development of computational techniques that have revolutionised materials design and facilitated the industrial application of quantum mechanical simulations." *2013

Stuart Parkin Stuart Stephen Papworth Parkin (born 9 December 1955) is an experimental physicist, Managing Director at the Max Planck Institute of Microstructure Physics in Halle and an Alexander von Humboldt Professor at the Institute of Physics of the M ...

IBM Research IBM Research is the research and development division for IBM, an American Multinational corporation, multinational information technology company. IBM Research is headquartered at the Thomas J. Watson Research Center in Yorktown Heights, New York ...

for "discoveries of the underlying physics and of novel device architectures that have established the field spintronics." *2012 Sir David McMurtry and John Deer,

Renishaw plc Renishaw plc is a British engineering company based in Wotton-under-Edge, England. The company's products include coordinate-measuring machines and machine tool products. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTS ...

, for "founding Renishaw plc and leading it to become one of the world’s principal manufacturers of metrology equipment."

Business and Innovation Medal

*2011 Graham John Batey,

Oxford Instruments Oxford Instruments plc is a United Kingdom manufacturing and research company that designs and manufactures tools and systems for industry and research. The company is headquartered in Abingdon, Oxfordshire, England, with sites in the United Ki ...

, for "sustained outstanding contribution to the application of low temperature physics in an industrial high technology environment." *2010 Sir

Michael Pepper Sir Michael Pepper (born 10 August 1942) is a British physicist notable for his work in semiconductor nanostructures. Early life Pepper was born on 10 August 1942 to Morris and Ruby Pepper. He was educated at St Marylebone Grammar School, a g ...

University College London University College London (Trade name, branded as UCL) is a Public university, public research university in London, England. It is a Member institutions of the University of London, member institution of the Federal university, federal Uni ...

, for "translating advances in semiconductor physics into the commercial arena", which included their participation in founding Toshiba Research Europe, Cambridge Laboratory, and TeraView Ltd. * 2009 Sir

Richard Friend Sir Richard Henry Friend (born 18 January 1953) is a British physicist who was the Cavendish Professor of Physics at the University of Cambridge from 1995 until 2020 and is Tan Chin Tuan Centennial Professor at the National University of Singapo ...

& Dr David Fyfe,

, for "guiding the company Cambridge Display Technology (CDT) to a pre-eminent position in the development of light-emitting polymers and in the development of the technology for flat-panel displays and lighting." * 2008 Donal Denvir,

Andor Technology Oxford Instruments Andor Ltd is a global developer and manufacturer of scientific cameras, microscopy systems and spectrographs for academic, government, and industrial applications. Founded in 1989, the company's products play a central role in t ...

, for "founding Andor Technology, and for leading an R&D programme that has kept the company at the forefront of innovation."

References