Päivi Törmä

Päivi Törmä is a Finnish physics professor at Aalto University. She works in the fields of quantum many-body physics, superconductivity, and nanophotonics.

Biography Päivi Törmä graduated with a master's degree from the University of Oulu and the University of Cambridge. She earned a PhD in theoretical physics from the University of Helsinki During her postdoc in Innsbruck, she was one of the first theorists to initiate work on ultracold Fermi gases, and proposed a spectroscopic probe of superfluidity. In Jyväskylä, she started experiments in nanophotonics and plasmonics. This research has led to pioneering observations of strong-coupling, lasing, and condensation phenomena in nanoplasmonic systems. Her theory work has revealed a quantum geometric contribution of superfluidity which can provide superconductivity in flat bands.

Books

Päivi Törmä and Klaus Sengstock (editors), Quantum Gas Experiments: Exploring Many-Body States, Imperial College Press, London and Singapore 2015.

Awards Päivi Törmä is an elected member of the Academia Europaea (2021), the Finnish Society of Sciences and Letters (2017), the Finnish Academy of Technology (2011), and the Finnish Academy of Science and Letters (2006). She received the Order of the First Class of the White Rose of Finland honour from the President of Finland in 2021. During 2017-2021 she was an Academy Professor of the Academy of Finland, and in 2013 she received the ERC Advanced Grant. In 2019 she received the Magnus Ehrnrooth Foundation Prize and in 2025 the Professor Theodor Homén Prize in Physics, both awarded by the Finnish Society of Sciences and Letters.