The Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (MICIU) has announced the list of winners of the 2024 National Research Awards. Carmen García, a CSIC research professor at IFIC, has received this prestigious recognition in the Blas Cabrera Physical Sciences category. She thus becomes the first woman to be awarded in this field since the Government began bestowing these honors.

Professor García was honored for the impact of her scientific career—acknowledged both nationally and internationally—and for the excellence of her research in particle physics, focused on studying the fundamental components of matter and their interactions. Notable contributions include her work in searching for long-lived particles, developing tracking detectors, and her involvement in the ATLAS experiment, which was instrumental in the discovery of the Higgs boson.

Following the announcement of the winners, Minister Diana Morant stated that “for the first time since the awards were established, two women have been recognized in the Physical, Materials and Earth Sciences and in the Medicine categories,” thus breaking a “historical anomaly that saw women underrepresented in these fields.”

The National Research Awards granted by MICIU, which include 20 categories endowed with €30,000 each, are, according to Minister Morant, “the most important recognition in Spain in the area of scientific research.” She also highlighted the talent of the awardees, whose “excellent science not only contributes to the progress and wellbeing of society, but also to the strengthening of our country.” In addition, the minister emphasized that this edition has the highest number of female awardees to date, “since in previous years fewer women applicants were submitted.”

About the awardee

Carmen García García (La Yesa, Valencia, 1962) holds a PhD in Physics from the University of Valencia (1990). She currently serves as a CSIC research professor at the Institute of Corpuscular Physics (IFIC, CSIC–UV).

Specializing in experimental particle physics, her work focuses on the construction of large detectors, their operation, and the analysis of massive datasets, all within the framework of large-scale international collaborations. She conducted her doctoral thesis on the Soudan‑II experiment in Minnesota and later worked on two major accelerators at CERN (Switzerland): the DELPHI experiment at LEP and the ATLAS experiment at the LHC, where the Higgs boson was discovered in 2012.

In addition to her significant contributions at CERN, Carmen has served as a researcher at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (UK) and Argonne National Laboratory (USA).

Furthermore, Professor García has held positions as deputy director of IFIC; coordinator of the CSIC’s Physics and Physical Technologies Area; deputy coordinator of the CSIC’s Global Matter Area; president of the CSIC’s Large Infrastructures Commission; and she is a founding partner of the tech‑based spin‑off Alibava Systems.