University of Nigeria female professor wins $100,000 Awards in Physical Sciences

Professor Francisca Okeke who was announced a winner of the L’Oréal-UNESCO Awards in Physical Sciences last year attended the award ceremony recently to receive her $100,000 prize.
The award ceremony took place in Paris last weekend and UNESCO said Okeke has made the study of the ionosphere her lifetime work. The ionosphere lies between 50km and 1000kms above the earth surface. “A very thick layer of charged particles, the ionosphere produces changes in the magnetic field on earth’s surface that affect the planet in a host of ways. Her research could lead to a better understanding of climate change and help pinpoint sources of dramatic phenomena like tsunamis and earthquakes”, a summary of her research published by UNESCO read.
According to reports, Okeke is the first female Head of Department, University of Nigeria Nsukka. Her significant contributions “to the understanding of daily variations of the ion currents in the upper atmosphere which may further our understanding of climate change” got her the recognition for the award.
Okeke who now becomes the third Nigerian Laureate since the UNESCO-L’Oreal partnership was established in 1998 was the only recipient in that category from Africa and the Arab nations.
Other recipients in the Laureate category represented Europe, Latin America, North America and the Asia Pacific regions.

Congrats to a Great Lioness!