CONICET researchers awarded by the Alexander-von-Humboldt-Stiftung

Every year, the Alexander-von-Humboldt-Stiftung gives the Georg Forster Award to researchers that provide solutions to some problems they face. On this occasion, four female and six male scientists were awarded for their life achievements in research. Among the awardees, there are two Argentines who are scientists of the National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET): Gabriel Kassler and Yanina Fasano.

Fasano has a PhD in physics and is a CONICET independent researcher at the Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica de Bariloche (CONICET-CNEA). She received the prize for the impact of her work and the training of human resources on experimental physics of condensed matter at low temperatures.

“Personally, It’s an honor to receive this award. Georg Forster was one of the leading figures in the Enlightenment that took place in the German sciences in the eighteenth century. This award, with the name of this figure, for a scientist from a country where public decision-making based on scientific evidence is still a process under construction, is also a challenge. I hope I can rise to the occasion,” said Yanina Fasano.

This prize will allow the scientist to travel to Germany to develop a scientific project on properties of superconducting materials. There, she will cooperate with the Leibniz-Institute for Solid State and Materials Research (IFW) in Dresden.
Gabriel Kessler, CONICET principal researcher and professor at the Instituto de Investigaciones en Humanidades y Ciencias Sociales (IdIHCS-CONICET) of the Universidad Nacional de La Plata and the Escuela IDAES/UNSAM, was awarded for his contributions to Sociology. In Germany, he will develop his project at the Latin American Institute of the Free University of Berlin.

“This prize makes me very happy because it represents a recognition to the research work we do in the Argentine social sciences, a recognition to the public institutions were I was trained and where I work (UBA, UNGS, Unsam y UNLP) as well as for colleagues, friends, students with whom I have shared my studies. It is a great incentive to continue working because the Award values our work and provides us with support to think and create new projects with colleagues in Germany and other countries,” Kessler affirms.

The Alexander-von-Humboldt-Stiftung was created in 1953 in Germany and is based in the city of Bonn. Currently, it maintains a network of 26 thousand researchers in more than 140 countries, including  51 Nobel Prize winners. The award winners are nominated by fellow specialists of Germany and are invited to establish or expand partnerships with them, and each endowed with €60,000.