UCC scientist from Skibbereen wins world-renowned science award

A Skibbereen scientist, working at University College Cork, has been awarded one of the world’s most prestigious science awards.

Séamus Davis, Professor of Quantum Physics at UCC, has been named as the recipient of the 2023 Oliver E. Buckley Physics Prize by the American Physical Society in Condensed Matter Physics.

Presented annually since 1953, a total of 18 recipients of the Buckley Prize have also won the Nobel Prize in Physics in the past 69 years.

Prof Davis is also the Professor of Physics at the Clarendon Lab. at the University of Oxford and is the first Irish recipient of the award.

An accolade that recognises 25 years’ of work, the award has been presented to Prof Seamus Davis in recognition of his development of quantum microscopes that allow direct atomic-scale imaging of quantum matter existing within advanced materials.

Prof. Davis explained: “New materials are constantly created in laboratories around the world. Previously, to properly understand these new materials, we would observe some of their characteristics, develop theories based on these observations, test these and develop further theories based on what we would learn.

“This means it was taking years, if not decades in some cases, to develop a full profile of materials. What we have done is developed approaches and designs that allow us to extract direct atomic-scale imaging of even the most complex electronic structure, giving us an almost instant and complete profile of these materials.” Speaking on the award, Prof Davis said: “This work has spanned 25 years and there have been hundreds of contributors in that time – too many to thank individually. I would, however, like to thank all those who have supported our quantum microscope concept, since it started at UC Berkeley in the 1990’s, matured at Cornell University in the 2000’s and has now become operational at UCC.” 

Prof Davis will be presented with the award at a ceremony in Las Vegas at the annual conference of the American Physical Society.

Congratulating Prof. Davis, UCC President Professor John O’Halloran said: “We are so lucky to have Seamus leading out this ground-breaking work, generously supported by Science Foundation Ireland. Quantum and Photonics are one of the recently announced thematic areas for UCC Futures research at UCC and this award will give further momentum to this initiative.” 

Prof. Sarah Culloty, Head of the College of Science, Engineering and Food Science at UCC said: "His outstanding scientific and technological endeavours have advanced our understanding of quantum physics, and we are proud that he is continuing his pioneering work at University College Cork," she said.