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{{short description|British microscopist}}
{{Use British English|date=August 2017}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2017}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name = Dame Pratibha Gai-Boyes
| image = Pratibha Gai at The Asian Awards.jpg
| caption = Pratibha Gai at [[The Asian Awards]] in 2016
| birth_name = Pratibha Laxman Gai
| birth_date =
| birth_place=
| alma_mater = [[University of Cambridge]]
| workplaces = {{plainlist|
*[[University of York]]
*[[University of Delaware]]
*[[University of Oxford]]
*[[DuPont]]
}}
| thesis_title= Applications of Weak Beam Electron Microscopy
| thesis_url = http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.456117
| thesis_year= 1974
| awards = {{plainlist|
*[[Gabor Medal and Prize]] (2010)
* [[Fellow of the Institute of Physics]]{{when|date=May 2016}}
* [[Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry]]{{when|date=May 2016}}
* [[L'Oréal-UNESCO Awards for Women in Science]] (2013)
* [[Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering]] (2014)
* [[Fellow of the Royal Society]] (2016)
* [[Honorary Fellow of the Royal Microscopical Society]] (2018)
}}
| website = {{URL|york.ac.uk/physics/people/gai}}
}}

'''Dame Pratibha Laxman Gai-Boyes''' {{post-nominals|country=GBR|DBE|FRS|HonFRMS|FRSC|FREng}}<ref name="RAEng">{{cite web|title=RAEng: New Fellows 2014|url=http://www.raeng.org.uk/about-us/people-council-committees/the-fellowship/new-fellows-2014|accessdate=30 December 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150415140344/http://www.raeng.org.uk/about-us/people-council-committees/the-fellowship/new-fellows-2014|archive-date=15 April 2015|url-status=dead}}</ref> is a British [[microscopist]] and Professor and Chair of [[Electron Microscopy]] and former Director at The York JEOL Nanocentre, Departments of Chemistry and Physics, [[University of York]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.york.ac.uk/physics/people/gai|title=Pratibha Gai – Physics, The University of York|publisher=University of York|accessdate=13 May 2013}}</ref> She created the atomic-resolution environmental transmission electron microscope (ETEM) and is an outspoken advocate for women with careers in science.

== Education and early life ==
Gai grew up in India, and was fascinated by science as a child. She was influenced by [[Marie Curie]], her education, and her parents to study chemistry. However, at that time, it was not socially accepted for women to have careers in the physical sciences. When she was a teenager, she was selected as a national science talent search scholar.<ref name="Mizen, 2013">[http://www.rsc.org/diversity/175-faces/all-faces/professor-pratibha-gai-frsc Profile], rsc.org; accessed 30 December 2017.</ref>

::<blockquote>“It would have been very difficult without the scholarships because societal expectations for women at that time did not include careers in the sciences or chemistry. I would say that societal expectations, even today, as to what is good for women, including in the UK, do not always include scientific studies."<ref name="Mizen, 2013" /></blockquote>

Gai was educated at the [[University of Cambridge]] where she was awarded a PhD in 1974 for research on weak beam electron microscopy conducted in the [[Cavendish Laboratory]].<ref>{{cite thesis|degree=PhD|publisher=University of Cambridge|title=Applications of Weak Beam Electron Microscopy|first=Pratibha L.|last=Gai|year=1974|url=http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.456117|oclc=500447391}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://fwis2013.com/wp-content/uploads/pdfs/LAUREATES_EN_PROFILES.pdf|title=Professor Pratibha L. Gai|publisher=Loreal-UNESCO Awards 2013 Laureate|accessdate=30 December 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130417234820/http://fwis2013.com/wp-content/uploads/pdfs/LAUREATES_EN_PROFILES.pdf|archive-date=17 April 2013|url-status=dead}}</ref>

== Research and career ==
Gai has pioneered advanced in-situ electron microscopy applications in the chemical sciences. With Edward D. Boyes, she co-invented the atomic resolution environmental transmission electron microscope (ETEM), which enables the visualization and analysis on the atomic scale of dynamic gas-catalyst reactions underpinning key chemical processes. Her research has helped to understand better how catalysts function, leading to valuable new science. This invention has helped many scientists. Her microscope and process inventions are being exploited worldwide by microscope manufacturers, chemical companies and researchers.<ref name="frs" /><ref name=GaiHarmer2002>{{cite journal|last1=Gai|first1=Pratibha L.|last2=Harmer|first2=Mark A.|title=Surface Atomic Defect Structures and Growth of Gold Nanorods|journal=Nano Letters|volume=2|issue=7|year=2002|pages=771–74|doi=10.1021/nl0202556|bibcode=2002NanoL...2..771G}}</ref>

In 2009, after years of development, Gai, who holds a chair in [[electron microscopy]] and was co-director of the York JEOL Nanocentre at the [[University of York]], succeeded in creating a [[microscope]] capable of perceiving chemical reactions at the atomic scale.<ref name="THE">{{cite news|last=Gibney|first=Elizabeth|title=Pratibha Gai's award-winning focus|url=http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/news/pratibha-gais-award-winning-focus/2001487.article|newspaper=Times Higher Education|date=14 February 2013}}</ref>

This is an advance on conventional microscopes at this scale, which can only view innate material in the "dead" conditions of a vacuum at room temperature. It is known as the atomic resolution environmental transmission electron microscope (ETEM).<ref name="CroninLin2002">{{cite journal|last1=Cronin|first1=Stephen B|last2=Lin|first2=Yu-Ming|last3=Rabin|first3=Oded|last4=Black|first4=Marcie R|last5=Ying|first5=Jackie Y|last6=Dresselhaus|first6=Mildred S|last7=Gai|first7=Pratibha L|last8=Minet|first8=Jean-Paul|last9=Issi|first9=Jean-Paul|title=Making electrical contacts to nanowires with a thick oxide coating|journal=Nanotechnology|volume=13|issue=5|year=2002|pages=653–658|doi=10.1088/0957-4484/13/5/322|bibcode=2002Nanot..13..653C|s2cid=250881154 }}</ref>

With the help of colleagues, she built and refined the machine over two decades, beginning with a lower-resolution prototype when she was a postdoctoral researcher at the [[University of Oxford]]. She then spent 18 years in the US at chemical firm DuPont and the [[University of Delaware]].<ref name="THE" /><ref>Celeste Biever,[https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21729106.100-it-is-time-to-train-atoms-to-do-what-we-want.html#.Unvgd-ywpxA It is time to train atoms to do what we want], ''New Scientist'', Volume 217 Number 2910, pg. 25 (30 March 2013).</ref>

Although her microscope is highly valuable to the scientific field, she made the decision to not patent it, saying, "I thought that if I patented it, no one else would be able to do work with it. I might earn some money, but I was not interested in that. I was interested in applications for many researchers, creating more fundamental science. So I decided not to patent it."<ref name="Gibney, 2013">[https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/pratibha-gais-award-winning-focus/2001487.article Profile], timeshighereducation.com; accessed 30 December 2017.</ref>

She often advocates for women's roles in science, and has spoken about the challenge of having children as a woman scientist. She says, "what's needed to keep women in science; it's a very competitive field and they [otherwise] lag behind whether they are working or not. So I keep telling my female students to aim high."<ref name="Gibney, 2013" />

== Awards and honours ==
* 2010 [[Gabor Medal and Prize]] for in-situ atomic resolution environmental transmission electron microscopy (ETEM).
* [[Fellow of the Institute of Physics]]{{when|date=May 2016}}
* [[Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry]]{{when|date=May 2016}}
* 2013 [[L'Oréal-UNESCO Awards for Women in Science|L'Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science Awards]] Laureate for Europe<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_pAKye9AzWI|title=Pratibha L. Gai, 2013 L'Oréal-UNESCO Awards Laureate for Europe|publisher=YouTube|accessdate=30 December 2017}}</ref>
* 2014 [[Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering]]<ref name="RAEng" />
* [[List of Fellows of the Royal Society elected in 2016|2016 Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS)]]<ref name=frs>{{cite web|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160429121224/https://royalsociety.org/people/pratibha-gai-12866|archivedate=29 April 2016|url=https://royalsociety.org/people/pratibha-gai-12866|publisher=[[Royal Society]]|title=Professor Pratibha Gai FREng FRS|location=London, UK}} One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from the royalsociety.org website where: {{blockquote|"All text published under the heading 'Biography' on Fellow profile pages is available under [[Creative Commons license|Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License]]." --{{cite web |url=https://royalsociety.org/about-us/terms-conditions-policies |title=Royal Society Terms, conditions and policies |accessdate=2017-08-24 |url-status=live |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150925220834/https://royalsociety.org/about-us/terms-conditions-policies |archivedate=25 September 2015 |df=dmy-all }}}}</ref>
* 2018 [[The Asian Awards]] for Outstanding Achievement in Science & Technology.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.desiblitz.com/content/asian-awards-2018-recognition-glamour|title= Asian Awards 2018: Recognition with Lots of Glitz and Glamour|date= 29 April 2018|publisher=Desiblitz}}</ref>
* 2018 [[Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire]] For services to Chemical Sciences and Technology<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/671144/NY18_Queens_List_-_Final_.pdf|title=New Year's Honours 2018|work=Gov.uk|publisher=[[Government Digital Service]]|date=29 December 2017|accessdate=29 December 2017|page=10}}</ref>
* 2018 [[Honorary Fellow of the Royal Microscopical Society]]

== References ==
{{Reflist|35em}}

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{{FRS 2016}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gai, Pratibha}}
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Academics of the University of York]]
[[Category:Alumni of the University of Cambridge]]
[[Category:Fellows of the Institute of Physics]]
[[Category:Fellows of the Royal Society of Chemistry]]
[[Category:Fellows of the Royal Academy of Engineering]]
[[Category:Female fellows of the Royal Academy of Engineering]]
[[Category:University of Delaware faculty]]
[[Category:Microscopists]]
[[Category:British inventors]]
[[Category:British women inventors]]
[[Category:British people of Indian descent]]
[[Category:21st-century women inventors]]
[[Category:L'Oréal-UNESCO Awards for Women in Science laureates]]
[[Category:21st-century British women engineers]]
[[Category:21st-century British engineers]]
[[Category:Female fellows of the Royal Society]]
[[Category:Dames Commander of the Order of the British Empire]]
[[Category:Indian dames]]
[[Category:Year of birth missing (living people)]]
[[Category:British fellows of the Royal Society]]

Pratibha Gai - Revision history

Ilushiktka: added initial info from scratch