L'Oreal-UNESCO Announce Women in Science Award Laureates

Posted: November 9, 2010

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Anne L’Huillier, PhD, a professor of atomic physics at Lund University, was nominated for her work on the development of the fastest camera for recording events in attoseconds (one billionth of a billionth of a second). L’Huillier obtained her doctorate in physical sciences in France at the Université de Paris VI. After postdoctoral research in Sweden and the United States, she was a researcher at the French Atomic Energy Commission from 1986-1995. She then transferred to Lund Unversity, where she has been professor atomic physics since 1997. She has received numerous awards, is a fellow of the American Physical Society and a member of the Swedish Academy of Sciences.

Silvia Torres-Peimbert, PhD, a professor emeritus for the Institute of Astronomy at Mexico City University, has been nominated for her work on the chemical composition of nebula, which is reportedly fundamental to the understanding of the origin of the universe. A native of Mexico, Torres-Peimbert obtained her doctorate at the University of California Berkeley. She then became professor in the faculty of sciences and the Institute of Astronomy at UNAM. She currently is emeritus professor and since 2009, has been coordinator of physical, mathematical and engineering sciences at the university. She is a member of the American Astronomical Society, the Academy of Sciences of the Developing World, and is a past vice president of the International Astronomical Union.

Finally, Jillian Banfield, PhD, professor of earth and planetary science; of environmental science, policy and management; and of materials science and engineering at the University of California, was nominated for her work on bacterial and material behavior under extreme conditions relevant to the environment and the earth. Banfield received her bachelor's and master's degrees in geology from the Australian National University. She subsequently completed a doctorate in earth and planetary science at Johns Hopkins University. From 1990-2001, she was a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Since then, she has been a professor at the University of California-Berkeley and an affiliate scientist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. She has been honored with numerous awards, including a MacArthur Fellowship, The Dana Medal of the Mineralogical Society of America and a John Simon Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship. She was elected to the US National Academy of Sciences in 2006.

For the past 13 years, the L’Oréal Corporate Foundation and UNESCO have sought to recognize women researchers who, through the scope of their work, have contributed to overcoming the global challenges of tomorrow. Each year, the program highlights scientific excellence and encourages talent. Faced with global challenges such as the acceleration of new technologies, aging populations or the threat to biodiversity, L’Oréal and UNESCO remain convinced that these women researchers will have a major impact on society and lay the foundations for the future. As such, L’Oréal and UNESCO want to contribute to their recognition and provide them with the means to continue their commitment to science with energy and passion.

In 13 years, the L’Oréal-UNESCO Awards have recognized 67 Laureates, two of whom received the Nobel Prize in 2009, and 864 fellowships have been granted to young women scientists from 93 countries so that they can continue their research projects. As a result, the programme has become a benchmark of scientific excellence on an international scale, revealing the contributions of these scientific women each year.