Sophie Pélisson, winner of the 2013 DIM Nano-K thesis prize.
Sophie Pélisson has won one of the five thesis prizes in the "Domaine d’Intérêt Majeur des Atomes froids aux Nanosciences" of the Île-de-France Region, for her research involving the FORCA-G experiment.
This prize, worth 1000 euros, was awarded on Monday, October 3rd, during the DIM nano-K days (journées DIM nano-K).
Adèle Hilico, winner of the 2013 Oréal-UNESCO scholarship.
Adèle Hilico obtained the the 2013 Oréal-UNESCO scholarship "Pour les femmes et la Science" ("For women and science") also for her work on the project FORCA-G.
This award was presented on Monday, October 14th during a ceremony at the Palais de la Découverte, in the presence of Geneviève Fioraso, Minister for Higher Education and Research, Philippe Taquet, President of the Academy of Sciences, Jean Audouze, President of the French Commission at UNESCO and Frédéric Herlin, Director General of Oréal France.
The Oréal France-UNESCO scholarships « For Wormen and Science », the French part of the international programme « For Women in Science », is awarded for the quality and talent of women scientists.
The compact FORCA-G project
Developed under the leadership of Franck Pereira Dos Santos, CNRS scientist at the SYRTE, the FORCA-G project aims to use atomic interferometric techniqes to make extremely accurate measurements of the forces between atoms and a surface.
While it is in effect relatively easy to test the laws of gravity on scales ranging from a meter to the scale of the solar system using macroscopic devices or by studying the orbits of celestial objects, it is more difficult to measure this force on small scales, since other interacting forces intervene.
The FORCA-G project will enable, in particulr, the law of gravity to be tested on very small scales, and to compare the measurements with predictions arising from theories which unify the standard model with relativity.