Gruber Foundation Cosmology Prize and 2012 Fellowship

Tuesday 22 and Wednesday 23 August

The Gruber Foundation Cosmology Prize for 2012 has been awarded to Charles L. Bennett and the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) team “for their vital contribution to the study of the properties of the Universe as a whole. The prize citation further recognises that the measurements of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) by Bennett and the WMAP team have helped to transform the current paradigm of the structure formation of the Universe from “appealing scenario into precise science”.” Their observations and analyses of ancient light have provided the unprecedentedly rigorous measurements of the age, content, geometry, and origin of the universe that now comprise the Standard Cosmological Model. The presentation will be made to Charles Bennett during the Inaugural Ceremony, 14:00-16:00 on Tuesday 22 August, and will be followed by a special lunchtime lecture by Charles Bennett at 12:45 on Wednesday 23 August.

The 2012 Gruber Foundation Fellowship has been awarded to Anna Lisa Varri of Milan to work at Indiana University on research devoted to the dynamics of globular clusters, with the aim of providing a more realistic dynamical paradigm for this class of stellar systems. She will be presented at the Inaugural Ceremony.