Researchers honoured in Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists

Four scientists and engineers from Oxford University are among the laureates and finalists of the 2018 Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists in the United Kingdom, announced today by the Blavatnik Family Foundation and the New York Academy of Sciences. One laureate in each of the three Blavatnik Awards categories-Life Sciences, Physical Sciences & Engineering, and Chemistry-will each receive a prize of US$100,000, and two finalists in each category will each receive US$30,000. The Blavatnik Awards in the UK are the largest unrestricted cash prizes available exclusively to young scientists in the UK. Professor Andrew Goodwin of the Department of Chemistry has been named as the 2018 Chemistry Laureate. Professor Goodwin is a world leader in the study of the chemistry and physics of functional materials, which have unique magnetic, optical, and electrical properties. His work has revealed the role of structural disorder in these materials, and how this phenomenon can explain unique material properties such as negative thermal expansion, negative compressibility, and exotic magnetic states. Professor Henry Snaith of Oxford's Department of Physics has been named the Physical Sciences & Engineering Laureate.