Pratibha Gai facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Dame Pratibha Gai-Boyes
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Pratibha Gai at The Asian Awards in 2016
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Pratibha Laxman Gai
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| Alma mater | University of Cambridge |
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| Thesis | Applications of Weak Beam Electron Microscopy (1974) |
Dame Pratibha Laxman Gai-Boyes is a brilliant British microscopist. She is a Professor and Chair of Electron Microscopy at the University of York. She also used to be the Director at The York JEOL Nanocentre.
Dame Pratibha is famous for creating a special microscope. It's called the atomic-resolution environmental transmission electron microscope (ETEM). This amazing tool helps scientists see tiny things at the atomic level. She also strongly supports women who want to work in science.
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Early Life and Education
Pratibha Gai grew up in India. As a child, she loved science. She was inspired by the famous scientist Marie Curie. Her parents and her education also encouraged her to study chemistry.
However, when she was young, it was not common for women to have careers in physical sciences. Even so, when she was a teenager, she was chosen as a national science talent search scholar. This scholarship helped her a lot.
She once said that without scholarships, it would have been very hard. This was because society didn't expect women to work in science back then. She believes that even today, society's ideas about what is good for women don't always include science.
Pratibha Gai studied at the University of Cambridge. In 1974, she earned her PhD. Her research was about weak beam electron microscopy. She did this work at the Cavendish Laboratory.
Amazing Research and Career
Dame Pratibha Gai has made huge steps in using electron microscopy. This is a special way to study chemicals. She and Edward D. Boyes invented the atomic resolution environmental transmission electron microscope (ETEM).
This microscope lets scientists see how gas and catalysts react at the atomic level. Catalysts are substances that speed up chemical reactions. Her research has helped us understand how catalysts work. This has led to important new science.
Her invention has been very helpful to many scientists. Microscope makers, chemical companies, and researchers around the world use her microscope and methods.
In 2009, after many years of hard work, Dame Pratibha succeeded. She created a microscope that could see chemical reactions at the atomic scale. At that time, she was a co-director of the York JEOL Nanocentre.
Normal microscopes can only see materials in a vacuum at room temperature. But her ETEM can view reactions happening in real time. This was a big step forward in science.
She worked with colleagues for over twenty years to build and improve this machine. She started with a simpler version when she was a researcher at the University of Oxford. Later, she spent 18 years in the US. She worked at the chemical company DuPont and the University of Delaware.
Even though her microscope is very valuable, she decided not to patent it. She explained that if she patented it, other scientists might not be able to use it. She wasn't interested in making money. Instead, she wanted many researchers to use it to create more basic science. So, she chose not to patent her invention.
Dame Pratibha often speaks up for women in science. She talks about the challenges of being a woman scientist and having children. She advises her female students to "aim high." She believes it's important to keep women in science, even though it's a very competitive field.
Awards and Honours
Dame Pratibha Gai has received many important awards for her work:
- 2010: Gabor Medal and Prize for her work on the ETEM microscope.
- May 2016: Became a Fellow of the Institute of Physics.
- May 2016: Became a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry.
- 2013: Won the L'Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science Awards for Europe.
- 2014: Became a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering.
- 2016: Became a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS).
- 2018: Received The Asian Awards for Outstanding Achievement in Science & Technology.
- 2018: Was made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire. This was for her services to Chemical Sciences and Technology.
- 2018: Became an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Microscopical Society.
Images for kids
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A robot, representing technology and science.
See also
- In Spanish: Pratibha Gai para niños
