
This was in honor of her opening up the new research area of quantum gases with dipolar, magnetic effects. At the beginning of November, she was also given the Antonio Feltrinell Prize bestowed on young scientists by the Italian Academy of Sciences. The award of the Accademie dei Lincei endowed to the amount of EUR 50,000 was granted for the first time this year, and focuses on Italian scholars under the age of 40 who have achieved exceptional and internationally recognized results in their field.
Born in Naples, the quantum physicist Francesca Ferlaino devotes her research to investigating ultracold quantum materials, where the rules of quantum mechanics govern the behavior of the particles. Ferlaino’s research focuses on the study of dipolar quantum phenomena. Together with her team, she was the first one to prepare ultracold quantum gases of erbium atoms. These relatively heavy atoms of rare earth metals offer a new playground to study complex quantum behavior, where interaction over long distances and anisotropy are in play. The goal is to provide a basic understanding of complex geometry-dependent quantum systems, which will lead them into areas of quantum physics that have not been investigated so far.