Professor Sandra Chapman (Director, Centre for Fusion Space and Astrophysics) has been awarded the 2024 European Geosciences Union (EGU) Hannes Alfvén medal.Link opens in a new window

The medal was established in recognition of the scientific achievements of Hannes Alfvén and is awarded to an individual for outstanding scientific contributions towards the understanding of plasma processes in the solar system and other cosmical plasma environments.

It was first awarded in 2004 after the European Geophysical Society and the European Union of Geosciences were merged, and Sandra is the second female to receive the medal.

Sandra says: “I am deeply honoured by this recognition and am following in some pretty big footsteps!”

Sandra has pioneered the development of nonlinear and complex systems approaches to solar system and laboratory plasmas and more widely, to problems outside plasma physics. Her work using large scale numerical simulation and modelling has included wave-particle interactions, plasma acceleration and heating both in the solar system, at astrophysical shocks and in magnetically confined plasmas for fusion. She has a longstanding interest in extracting physics insights from data to understand plasma turbulence and quantify impact and risk of earth's space weather.

The Medal will be presented at the annual EGU meeting 14-19 April 2024 in Vienna, where Medallists also give a lecture.