AAS Members Share 2020 Viktor Ambartsumian Prize

This post is adapted from a Viktor Ambartsumian Prize press release (PDF):

The Viktor Ambartsumian International Science Prize in astrophysics and related disciplines, based in the Republic of Armenia, is awarded to outstanding scientists from any country and nationality, typically every two years. This year the International Steering Committee (ISC) for the prize received nominations from national academies of sciences, universities, and observatories for eight outstanding scientists and groups from different countries. After a thorough study of the nominated works, as well as independent referees’ reports, the ISC decided to award half the prize to Prof. Alexander Szalay and to split the other half equally between Prof. Isabelle Baraffe and Prof. Adam Burrows:

• Prof. Alexander Szalay (Johns Hopkins University), nominated by Nobel laureate Prof. Adam Riess, “for his pioneering work on demonstrating that the dark matter in the universe might be a neutral, weakly interacting particle and for his contributions to data-driven, statistical cosmology.”
• Prof. Isabelle Baraffe (University of Exeter, United Kingdom, and Centre de Recherche Astrophysique de Lyon, France), nominated by the University of Exeter, “for her fundamental contributions to the field of low-mass stars, brown dwarfs and exoplanets, and for innovative ideas in the domains of asteroseismology and compact binaries.”
• Prof. Adam Burrows (Princeton University), nominated by Princeton University, “for his seminal and pioneering contributions to the theories of brown dwarfs and exoplanets and for his leadership role in educating a generation of scientists at the frontiers of brown dwarf and exoplanet research.”

Each laureate will receive an honorary diploma, a medal, and a proportionate share of a US $200,000 cash award. in addition, US $100,000 will be invested in further development of the astronomical sciences in Armenia over the next two years — for research projects, scientists’ foreign fellowships, scientific meetings and schools, scholarships for graduate students, and astronomy outreach projects.

ISC members are Prof. Radik Martirosyan (President, Armenian National Academy of Sciences, and ISC Chair), Prof. Xavier Barcons (Germany), Prof. Jocelyn Bell Burnell (UK), Prof. Anatol Cherepashchuk (Russia), Prof. Michel Mayor (Switzerland), Prof. Vahe Petrosian (US), Prof. Brian Schmidt (Australia), Prof. Joseph Silk (UK), and Prof. Ewine Van Dishoeck (Netherlands).

The official award ceremony will take place on 18 September 2020.

Congratulations to all three 2020 Viktor Ambartsumian Prize laureates, two of whom — Alex Szalay and Adam Burrows — are AAS members!