Research Director in nuclear physics at IJCLab and recipient of the 2023 CNRS Silver Medal, Araceli Lopez-Martens will take over the presidency of the Nuclear Physics Division of the European Physical Society (EPS) in 2026. This prestigious appointment recognizes the excellence of her scientific career and strengthens the laboratory's international reputation in the field of nuclear physics. Image © Laurent Ardhuin / CNRS
A strategic appointment for IJCLab
Physicist Araceli Lopez-Martens, Research Director at the Laboratory of Physics of the 2 Infinities Irène Joliot-Curie (IJCLab - CNRS/Université Paris-Saclay/Université Paris-Cité), has been elected president of the Nuclear Physics Division (NPD) of the European Physical Society (EPS). She will take office as president-elect in 2025, then assume the presidency in 2026-2027, succeeding Alessandra Fantoni from the Frascati National Laboratories (INFN), before serving as vice-president in 2028.
"I am very honored to have been elected chair of the division and hope to continue promoting advances and applications in nuclear physics at the European level, as my predecessors have done so well. I plan to implement new actions, more oriented towards raising awareness and dissemination to the general public."
Araceli Lopez-Martens
A scientific career of excellence
Araceli Lopez-Martens began her journey in the United Kingdom where she obtained a bachelor's degree in physics and Russian from the University of Sussex. After a DEA in particle physics at the University of Paris Sud, she defended her doctoral thesis on nuclear superdeformation at the CSNSM (Center for Nuclear Sciences and Material Sciences) now IJCLab, in 1996. Her postdoctoral work at the Niels Bohr Institute in Denmark led her to study the properties of electromagnetic radiation emitted by superdeformed nuclei.
She joined CNRS in 1997 at IReS (now IPHC) in Strasbourg, where she contributed to the development of the European gamma-ray detector Euroball. Since 2003, within IJCLab, she has been involved in the construction of AGATA, a new generation of photon multi-detector. Her current research, within the Structure and Dynamics of Fissile nuclei (SDF) team of the nuclear division, focuses on gamma tracking algorithms for AGATA and on studying the properties of superheavy nuclei. Her work notably led to the discovery of a new isotope of Nobelium (249No) in 2020.
AGATA (Advanced GAmma Tracking Array) © Emmanuel Clément / GANIL / CNRS Images
New challenges for European nuclear physics
In her new role at EPS, she will coordinate the organization of major international conferences, including the European Nuclear Physics Conference (EUNPC), whose next edition will be held in Caen in 2025, the Applied Nuclear Physics Conference (ANP), and the Nuclear Physics in Astrophysics Conference (NPA). The division she will preside over also awards prestigious prizes, including the Lise Meitner Prize and the Applied Nuclear Physics Prize.
Recipient of the CNRS Silver Medal in 2023, Araceli Lopez-Martens continues her commitment to the dissemination of scientific knowledge. She recently contributed to the books "Étonnants Infinis" (CNRS Éditions, 2022) and "Les 150 ans de la Société Française de Physique" (EDP Sciences, 2023), while conducting numerous public presentations on radioactivity, nuclear physics, and superheavy nuclei.
This appointment strengthens IJCLab's position as a major player in nuclear physics on the European stage.