Wim Sinke wins Becquerel Prize
Prof.dr. Wim Sinke received the Becquerel Prize on 5 September for his work on silicon solar cells and his leading role in the European 'photovoltaics community', a discipline that carries out research into the conversion of sunlight into electricity. This prize from the European Commission was presented at the EU Photovoltaics Conference in Hamburg.
Sinke gained his PhD in 1985 at the FOM Institute AMOLF for his research on silicon solar cells. He then became group leader and after that, in 1991, he moved with his research group to ECN. Now about 80 researchers are working there on photovoltaics. At FOM Sinke is the chair of the programme committee of the Joint Solar Programme.
Becquerel Prize
The European Commission inaugurated the Becquerel Prize in 1989 to mark the 150th anniversary of the discovery of the photovoltaic effect by Alexandre-Edmond Becquerel. With this discovery, Becquerel laid the foundation for both solar energy and photography.