Since 1965, the Zener Medal has been awarded every three years to researchers who have achieved outstanding results in the fields of anelasticity, mechanical spectroscopy, and, more broadly, the study of condensed matter using acoustic methods.
The award was given to Francesco Cordero with the following citation:
"For greatly improving the [mechanical specoscopy] measurement techniques in the kHz range, and applying them to a broad range of phenomena. His rich work includes many contributions to the analysis of atomic-level processes, that reveal to be useful to improve the properties and applications of various functional materials.”

Francesco Cordero, Research Director, leads the Anelastic and Dielectric Spectroscopies Laboratory. His main research activity focuses on the refinement of techniques and interpretation of measurements of the complex elastic modulus using resonant samples, in complement to dielectric measurements carried out by Floriana Craciun in the same lab.
These methods provide valuable insights into various types of phase transitions (ferroelectric, elastic, magnetic, Jahn-Teller, etc.) and into the dynamics of both point and extended defects. They often yield results not accessible through other techniques, such as the behavior of hydrogen in metals, the dynamics and ordering of oxygen in high-Tc superconductors, and phase transitions and oxygen vacancies in perovskites.
Among his notable achievements:

• Identification of the nature of various structural transitions in metal-organic perovskites for photovoltaic and ferroelectric applications.
• Observation of precursor fluctuations of the ferroelectric transition extending hundreds of kelvin above the Tc in barium and strontium titanates.
• Study of the dynamics and pairing of oxygen vacancies in the same materials, and their interaction with domain walls.
• Discovery of a phase transition in the MXene Ti₃C₂T_x, identified as sliding ferroelectricity.

Cordero is the author of over 200 scientific publications.