The Rayleigh Award is NPL's most prestigious internal award, given yearly to the author(s) of the most outstanding published paper. The award is highly-competitive, and papers are judged on their creativity and novelty, the extent and quality of the scientific investigation, potential impact, and clarity and accessibility.
THe award was for the paper: N.M. Jennett, R. Ghisleni, J. Michler. ”Enhanced Yield Strength of Materials -The Thinness Effect” Appl. Phys. Lett. 95, 123102 (2009); doi:10.1063/1.3226106