The prize, awarded this September in Madrid, consists of one thousand Euros and a diploma, and is convened on a biennial basis. It is sponsored by the Nuclear Forum (the Spanish Nuclear Industry Forum) and is awarded to the best scientific work related to teaching or to the history of physics or chemistry. In addition, the winning article has been published in the journal Anales de Química.

In her work, Ana Isabel Morales, a graduate in Physics by the University of Valencia, reviews the most significant milestones in the history of the periodic system, placing special emphasis on the contributions made by women in the search and study of new chemical elements.

In addition, the article of the also PhD in Nuclear Physics proposes to use the history of the only element with the name of a real woman (Lise Meitner), the meitnerium, as a didactic tool to integrate the gender perspective in the curricular contents of Physics and Chemistry of ESO and Baccalaureate.

“For me this award is a pride, because it means a recognition to the women who participated in the configuration of the periodic table, whose contribution in many cases has not been recognised”, said Ana Isabel Morales. The award-winning work was carried out as part of the History of Science classes that Professor José Ramón Bertomeu teaches at the University Master’s Degree in UV Teaching.

Ana Isabel Morales has made two postdoctoral stays in Italy and returned to Spain with a Juan de la Cierva-Incorporación grant at the Institute of Corpuscular Physics. Before the end of this year, the IFIC Gamma and Neutron Spectroscopy Group will be reincorporated as a postdoctoral researcher. In the 2018/2019 academic year, as part of the University Master’s Degree in Secondary Education Teaching at the UV, he has carried out the research work “Hacia la igualdad de género en la Historia del Sistema Periódico “ (‘Towards gender equality in the History of the Periodic System’) and “Ideas previas, conocimientos y actitudes del alumnado de secundaria con referencia al fenómeno de la radiactividad “ (‘Previous ideas, knowledge and attitudes of secondary school students with reference to the phenomenon of radioactivity’).

Awarded article: http://analesdequimica.com/115-3/1153-hacia-la-igualdad.pdf

Annex photo caption: Pioneer women of the periodic table. From top to bottom and from left to right: Julia Lermontova, Harriet Brooks, Stefanie Horovitz, Ida Noddack, Marguerite Perey and Lise Meitner; images of the award ceremony.