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Two scientists at the University of Colorado Boulder, Professor Henry Kapteyn and Professor Margaret Murnane, a married couple and partners in physics research, have been awarded the 2020 Benjamin Franklin Medal in Physics by the Franklin Institute. lt is one of several awards given out yearly by the institute. In its 196th year, the Franklin Institute continues to pay tribute to its namesake, Benjamin Franklin, by honoring the greatest minds in science. “The Franklin Institute Awards pay tribute to America’s original scientist, Benjamin Franklin, by honoring the greatest minds in science, engineering, and industry,” said Chris Franklin, chair of the Awards Corporate Committee, in a statement. “We believe in the work the Institution does to inspire a passion for learning about science and technology.” Professor Margret Murnane believes that sharing the honor with her husband is one of the best parts about winning the award.

Scientists develop innovative technique to pinpoint coordinates of single atoms. A UCLA-led research team has produced in unprecedented detail experimental three-dimensional maps of the atoms in a so-called 2D material — matter that isn’t truly two-dimensional but is nearly flat because it’s arranged in extremely thin layers, no more than a few atoms thick. Although 2D-materials–based technologies have not yet been widely used in commercial applications, the materials have been the subject of considerable research interest. In the future, they could be the basis for semiconductors in ever smaller electronics, quantum computer components, more-efficient batteries, or filters capable of extracting freshwater from saltwater.

Scanning atomic electron tomography measurements reveal the 3D local structure around single dopant atoms in 2D transition metal dichalcogenides, providing essential information to investigate and predict their electronic properties.

The American Society of Chemistry (ACS) has announced Naomi S. Ginsberg is a recipient of the 2020 early-career award(link is external) in experimental physical chemistry. She is being recognized “For the development of new time- and space-resolved imaging and spectroscopy methods to study dynamical phenomena in heterogeneous materials”.

Rodriguez, an assistant professor of chemistry and biochemistry in the UCLA College, develops and applies new scientific methods in bio-imaging to determine, and provide a deep scientific understanding of, cellular and molecular structures and reveal undiscovered structures that influence chemistry, biology and medicine. His research combines computational, biochemical and biophysical experiments. His laboratory is working to explore the structures adopted by prions — a form of infectious protein that causes neurodegenerative disorders. Prion proteins, like the amyloid proteins associated with Alzheimer’s disease, form large clumps that damage and ultimately kill neurons in the brain. Among his awards and honors, Rodriguez won a 2019 Packard fellowship for Science and Engineering by the David and Lucile Packard Foundation; a 2018 Pew scholar in the biomedical sciences, a 2017 Searle Scholar and a 2017 Beckman Young Investigator by the Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation.

A husband-and-wife team at the forefront of laser science at the University of Colorado Boulder has followed in the footsteps of the Curies, winning a prestigious Benjamin Franklin Medal. The Franklin Institute announced today that Henry Kapteyn and Margaret Murnane would receive this year’s medal in physics—one of several awards handed out annually by the center named after the scientist and founding father.