| Citation | Nicola Spaldin is an international leader in the field of Materials Theory, an interdisciplinary field at the intersection of condensed matter and theoretical physics, materials science and solid-state chemistry. Spaldin is best known for her contributions to the field of multiferroics - materials with simultaneous magnetic and ferroelectric ordering. Although some multiferroics have been known for some time, the field languished due to their scarcity and a lack of understanding of their physics and chemistry. Spaldin is widely credited with reviving the field by identifying the basic reasons behind the apparent incompatibility between magnetism and ferroelectricity, and proposing new routes to overcome it. Her approach led the first observation of a huge room temperature electrical polarization in a magnetic material. |