Egyptian researcher Elham Fadaly was among an international team of researchers who won the Physics World 2020 Breakthrough of the Year for creating a silicon-based material with a direct band gap that emits light at wavelengths used for optical telecommunications.

Fadaly, Alain Dijkstra, and Erik Bakkers at Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands, and Jens Renè Suckert at Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena in Germany won the Physics World Magazine award for this achievement that is hailed as the “holy grail” of microelectronics.

In media statements to Egyptian state TV, Fadaly explained that the research is about how to emit light from the silicon-based material, which is used to form electronic chips, in order to speed up transmitting data with the speed of light.

Fadaly is considered the first Egyptian to win this award by Physics World Magazine, which is published by the Institute of Physics (IOP).

UK-based IOP is considered one of the largest physics societies in the world.

Fadaly graduated with a Bachelor of Science in electronic engineering from the American University in Cairo in 2013.

She is currently a PhD Candidate at Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands.