The 2024 Enrico Fermi Prize of the Italian Physical Society (SIF) was awarded jointly to Alberto Diaspro and Francesco Saverio Pavone for their experimental physics research applied to biological systems. Alberto and Francesco are active members of the Advanced Light Microscopy Italian Node, heading sites in Genoa and Florence, respectively. Euro-BioImaging warmly congratulates them on this well-deserved honour!
The Fermi Prize of the Italian Physical Society is named after Italian physicist Enrico Fermi and was initiated on the centenary of his birth. It has been awarded since 2001 by the Italian Physical Society to members who specifically focus on implementing physics principles and research in their work in optical microscopy. Awardees are shortlisted by a jury of experts and selected by vote of the society's members.
Alberto Diaspro, Professor at the Department of Physics of the University of Genoa and Director of the Nanoscopy Line of the Italian Institute of Technology (IIT), was awarded the prize "for his notable original contributions to the development and application of optical microscopy and the crucial impact on cellular and molecular biophysics".
For his part, Francesco Saverio Pavone, Professor at the Department of Physics of the University of Florence and Director of the Biophysics Area of the European Laboratory of Non-Linear Spectroscopy (LENS), was awarded the prize "for his leading role in the development of single molecule manipulation and spectroscopic imaging methods to study molecular processes in cells, tissues and the brain".
The Fermi Prize recognizes the significant contributions of the two researchers in advancing optical microscopy technologies, with wide-ranging implications in Italy and beyond. Their technological innovations, which have catalysed groundbreaking research across various biological disciplines, are openly accessible to all researchers through the Euro-BioImaging Advanced Light Microscopy Italian Node.
We are proud to count these distinguished awardees as active members of the Euro-BioImaging community and, once again, congratulate them on this award!
To find out more about the research and background of Albert Diaspro and Francesco Pavone, read the award article here (both in Italian and English).
November 6, 2025
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