Faculty of Science physicist awarded Order of Merit of the Italian Republic

Professor Elisabetta Barberio has been awarded Italy’s highest-ranking honour, the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic (Cavaliere dell’Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana), in recognition of her outstanding contributions to experimental particle physics research including several seminal research that facilitated two Noble Prizes in physics; 2008 Kobayashi and Masukawa, and 2013 Englert and Higgs.

Italian Consul-General Dr Hanna Pappalardo presented the prestigious award at a ceremony at the Consulate General of Italy in Melbourne on Monday 17 June. The University’s Dean of Science Professor Moira O’Bryan and Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) Professor Mark Cassidy also attended.

A professor of physics in the Faculty of Science and Director of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Dark Matter Particle Physics, Professor Barberio grew up in southern Italy and said it was an honour to receive the prestigious award from the country where she was born and raised.

“I'm delighted and deeply honoured to have received this recognition from Italy for my research in particle physics. Italy is a superpower in this globally significant field,” Professor Barberio said.

Professor Barberio spent much of her career as a researcher at CERN and played a key role in discovering the Higgs boson particle using the Large Hadron Collider. In 2014 she initiated the country’s dark matter direct detection program, which led to the construction of the first underground physics laboratory in the Southern Hemisphere, the Stawell Underground Physics Laboratory (SUPL) in Victoria. SUPL will host the first major Australian dark matter direct detection experiment (SABRE South), which Professor Barberio will lead.

The Order of Merit of the Italian Republic was established in 1951 by the second President of the Italian Republic, Luigi Einaudi.