Anne-Marije Zwerver wins Minerva Prize 2022

The fact that there is a lot of talent in the Dutch physics community, was also apparent from the nominations for the Minerva Prize 2022. Outstanding candidates were nominated and the jury selected Anne-Marije Zwerver (QuTech, TU Delft) as the winner from the impressive nominations. The Minerva Prize is awarded to an outstanding young female or non-binary physicist in the Netherlands with an overall performance that scientifically excels in any subfield of physics.

Talented and versatile

The jury was highly impressed by Anne-Marije’s work, both in the field of physics and in the field of outreach, education and science communication. Anne-Marije Zwerver obtained her PhD in 2022 and as a PhD candidate she made a big impression. She spearheaded measurements of the first quantum dot qubits made in an industry cleanroom, an achievement that made headlines around the world. She was also the first to shuttle an electron spin across multiple silicon quantum dots. During her PhD period she gave several invited talks on major conferences, the fact that a PhD-student receives these kinds of personal invitations is rather unusual.

Anne-Marije displays a great talent for and commitment to outreach, education and science communication, through a large number of interviews for national radio and newspapers, podcasts, public events, blog posts and contributions to the high school curriculum. Multi-talent Anne-Marije Zwerver can rightly be called a promising physicist – a great winner of the Minerva Prize 2022.

The Minerva Prize is a joint award by the Dutch Physics Council (DPC) and the Netherlands’ Physical Society (NNV). The aim is to support gender diversity in the Dutch physics community. There is a cash prize of 5,000 euros attached to the prize. The award ceremony of the NNV/DPC Minerva Prize, takes place at NWO Physics 4-5 April 2023, where Anne-Marije Zwerver will give a lecture about her research.