Astrophysics, to Elena Aprile and Patrizia Caraveo the ‘E. Fermi Award’

The “Enrico Fermi” 2021 Award of the Italian Physical Society (Sif) awarded this year ex-aequo to two illustrious scientists: Elena Aprile, of Columbia University in New York, and Patrizia Caraveo, of the National Institute of Astrophysics, “for their very important contributions to the observation of the Universe through different magnitudes and techniques”. This prestigious award, established in 2001 by Sif on the occasion of the centenary of Fermi’s birth, is awarded annually to one or more members who have particularly honored physics with their discoveries. The research fields of this year’s winners are in astrophysics and astroparticle physics. The Award was in fact given to Elena Aprile, “for her pioneering research on the properties of liquid xenon for the detection of radiation and for her contribution to the research of dark matter” and to Patrizia Caraveo “for her role as world leader in field of high-energy emission of neutron stars and for its contribution to the identification of Geminga “. Elena Aprile, professor at Columbia University in New York, where she is, among other things, co-director of the Columbia Astrophysic Laboratory in the period 2003-2006, is an expert in noble liquid detectors and their applications in particle physics and in astrophysics. Patrizia Caraveo is research director at the Institute of Space Astrophysics and Cosmic Physics of INAF in Milan which she also directed from 2011 to 2017. Caraveo is an expert in optical astronomy, she has collaborated on several international space missions dedicated to high energy astrophysics starting with the European OS-B mission and is currently involved in the European Integral mission, the Italian Agile mission and the Nasa Swift and Fermi missions, all in orbit and fully operational.