MADRID (SPAGNA) (ITALPRESS) – The President of the Generalitat of Catalonia, Salvador Illa, gave the “Medalla d’Or de la Generalitat” to the Italian scientist Caterina Biscari, during a ceremony in Barcelona attended by the Consul General of Italy in Barcelona, Gabriele Luca Fava, and the Scientific Officer of the Embassy, Sergio Scopetta. A statement from the Italian Embassy in Madrid reports it.
Established in 1978, the “Medalla d’Or de la Generalitat” is the highest honor granted by the Autonomous Community of Catalonia and has contemplated, among the award-winning, universally known personalities, such as Salvador Dalí, Joan Miró, Pau Casals, Josep Carreras or Montserrat Caballé. Physics and Director of the ALBA Syncrotron, one of the major research infrastructures in Spain, Caterina Biscari is the first personality of non-Spanish citizenship to be awarded.
The official motivations of the assignment report that “Biscari has strengthened the international projection of research developed in Catalonia. Its scientific trajectory combines scientific excellence, service to society and capacity for cooperative leadership. It represents a reference point for women in Science and has helped to make their presence visible in the decision-making sites of European research”.
Caterina Biscari, born in Sicily, was a student of the Italian State School of Madrid and graduated from the Complutense University. He then obtained his PhD at the Federico II University of Naples. Researcher of the National Institute of Nuclear Physics (INFN), specialized in particle accelerators physics, in which Italy boasts a long tradition of excellence, starting from pioneering studies by Edoardo Amaldi and Bruno Touschek at the National Laboratories of Frascati (LNF) of INFN, the first headquarters of Biscari.
From here its activity has extended to other important realities, such as the CERN in Geneva and, more recently, the National Center of Oncological Adrotherapy (CNAO) in Pavia, carrying out fundamental research, applied and of health interest. Since 2012 he has been the head of the ALBA accelerator in the Barcelona area.
ALBA is a source of synchrotron light, which allows to study the properties of matter with various applications in the field of life sciences and materials science, relevant both in academic and industrial research. Since its foundation, more than ten thousand researchers and more than one hundred companies have used ALBA for their studies.
Already official of the Star of Italy and winner of the award “Aldo Olcese 2026”, established by the Italian Embassy in Madrid in memory of the illustrious compatriot, prematurely died last year, Caterina Biscari has always collaborated with the numerous initiatives of scientific promotion organized by the Embassy and the General Consulate in Barcelona. The bestowal of the “Medalla d’Or de la Generalitat” is the further certification of the excellence of the Italian training and research system and of our tradition in the physics of accelerators.
– Photos Embassy of Italy in Madrid –
(ITALPRESS).
