ESS Assistant Professor Dr. Baptiste Journaux was recognized this past summer with the International Association for the Properties of Water & Steam’s Helmholtz Award.
The International Association for the Properties of Water & Steam (IAPWS) is an international non-profit uniting organizations to advance and freely share knowledge of the properties of water, steam and aqueous systems, particularly those of industrial importance. IAPWS’s goal is to connect scientists and researchers with industry operators, engineers, and managers in an open, collaborative, non-competitive forum.
The IAPWS Helmholtz Award is awarded annually, recognizing promising early- to mid-career scientists and engineers making impactful contributions or pioneering new directions in IAPWS’s research areas, and aims to encourage their active involvement in the organization.
During the 2025 IAPWS Symposium, the Helmholtz award was presented to Journaux who gave an exciting talk titled “Planetary Science: The new frontier in water and aqueous solutions thermodynamic properties.” This presentation focused on developing new thermodynamic models that describe the behavior or ice phases under the high pressures characteristic of moons and exoplanets within and beyond our solar system.
Journaux’s work was published in a study in Nature Communications and revealed groundbreaking research that could revolutionize the search for habitability in our solar system and beyond. Journaux, with co-author and assistant professor Matt Powell-Palm at Texas A&M University, introduced a new thermodynamic concept called the cenotectic, or the invariant point occurring at the lowest temperature at which liquid remains stable under any conditions of pressures and concentrations. This is the first time in 140 years that a new thermodynamic point is defined for classic phase diagrams.
“Receiving the Helmholtz award in Helsinki this year was a wonderful and humbling honor,” said Journaux reflecting on the award and conference. He further explained, “The IAPWS defines the world references for the thermodynamics of water used in many fields, from medical to environmental sciences, and for the power/chemical industries. Having work achieved at UW recognized at that level is truly thrilling and is making me excited about what we will achieve in the future to further explore the fascinating world of water under extreme conditions and extraterrestrial oceans in our solar system and beyond.”
Read more about Journaux’s research here.