Dame Pratibha Gai DBE FREng FRS

Pratibha Gai is a materials chemist and an electron microscopist.  Her studies involve real-time visualising and analysis of dynamic chemical processes at the atomic level.  Her research highlights include developments of improved nanomaterials and processes for catalysis, energy, healthcare, food coatings, and novel dynamic in-situ electron microscopy (EM) instrumentation.
She has pioneered advanced in-situ EM applications in the chemical sciences. With E D Boyes, she co-invented the analytical in-situ atomic resolution environmental transmission electron microscope (ETEM) and analytical in-situ environmental scanning TEM(ESTEM) with single atom resolution, to visualise and analyse dynamic gas-catalyst reactions at operating temperatures, underpinning key chemical processes, at the atomic level and in real time. Her research has helped to understand better how catalysts function in gases and liquids, leading to new science. Her ETEM and process inventions are being exploited worldwide by researchers, EM manufacturers and chemical companies, with scientific and economic benefits.
Pratibha is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering. Her other honours include Gabor prize of the Institute of Physics and L'Oreal-UNESCO International Women in Science Award as the 2013 Laureate for Europe. She is an Honorary Fellow, Girton College, University of Cambridge. Prior to her York assignments, she held positions in the USA and at the University of Oxford, after a PhD in Physics from the University of Cambridge.