Mario Nicodemi, coordinator of the Naples INFN Theoretical Group and Professor at the Federico II University of Naples, was awarded the Giuseppe Occhialini Medal for Physics at an awards ceremony held in Milan on 12 September during the 108th National Congress of the Italian Physical Society (SIF). Awarded annually by SIF and the UK Institute of Physics (IOP), the prize recognises scientists working in Italy who have most distinguished themselves through their research over the past decade of activity. Justifying the award of the 2022 edition of the prize to Nicodemi are his innovative and fundamental contributions to the understanding of the mechanisms that determine the spatial structure of chromosomes, and their role in regulating gene expression, with work at the frontier between physics, biology and genetics. The research work recognised this year belong to one of the emerging fields of physics, characterised by a profound interdisciplinarity, in which elements of theoretical physics, molecular biology and genetics converge. While far from the traditional fields of nuclear and subnuclear physics, INFN is investing in applications of physics to the life sciences because of their great potential, as well as in other areas stemming from the fusion of different disciplines.
