High award for Prof. Marco Durante

Professor Durante has been invited to give a lecture on his scientific career at the virtual annual RRS meeting in October this year. The award has been announced at the end of June.

Marco Durante is an internationally recognized expert in the field of radiation biology and medical physics. He is being awarded the prize for his significant contributions to the optimization of therapy with heavy ions and for his studies on radiation protection in space. “This award is a great honour for me. As a student, I read the Failla Award paper by Cornelius Tobias (Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory), the father of heavy ion therapy, on heavy ions in therapy and space research, and I became enthusiastic about that topic. After 37 years from Tobias, spending my whole scientific career on that very topic, that same award comes to me. The award actually recognizes the research of my team at GSI/FAIR over the past years. It is the result of the work of the whole Biophysics Department”, Professor Durante reacted to the news from RRS.

The prestigious award is named after the scientist Gioacchino Failla, former president of RRS and one of its founding fathers. It is awarded annually to an outstanding member of the radiation research community who has made significant contributions in the fields of radiation science. The handover of the prize money of 2000€ and an accompanying medal usually takes place during the annual meeting of the RRS. It is the highest award of RRS, established in 1963 and has been received only by a few Europeans, including a single researcher working in Germany (Herwig Paretzke in 2007). Due to the corona pandemic, the RRS is organising its annual meeting virtually this year, so that the prize is delivered in advance. During the online event in October 2020 Durante will deliver his Failla lecture.