Candidates nominated by the IAU and winners selected by the European Physical Society (EPS), the Centro di Cultura Scientifica Alessandro Volta and Edison S.p.A.

Today, the winners of the 2015 EPS Edison Volta Prize for outstanding contributions to physics were announced. Out of all the candidates nominated by the IAU, the prize is being given to the three principal scientific leaders of the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Planck Mission:

• Nazzareno Mandolesi, University of Ferrara
• Jean-Loup Puget, Institut d'Astrophysique Spatiale, Université Paris Sud and CNRS
• Jan Tauber, Directorate of Science and Robotic Exploration, European Space Agency

The three laureates have been awarded the 2015 EPS Edison Volta Prize for directing the development of the Planck payload and the analysis of its data. Their findings have resulted in the refinement of our knowledge of the temperature fluctuations in the Cosmic Microwave Background as a vastly improved tool for doing precision cosmology at unprecedented levels of accuracy, and the consolidation our understanding of the very early Universe.

John Dudley, the EPS President, adds: “We are extremely proud to see the pioneering work of the Planck Mission honoured by the EPS Edison Volta Prize. This is especially appropriate given that this year 2015 is declared by the United Nations the International Year of Light, with the UN resolution in fact citing the first discovery of the cosmic microwave background in 1965 as one of the focal points of celebration during the year.”

The EPS Edison Volta Prize will be awarded at two ceremonies, one during the EPS Council in March 2015 and another later in the year at the Headquarters of Edison S.p.A. in Italy.

Links

• European Physical Society (EPS) press release

Contacts

Lars Lindberg Christensen
IAU Press Officer
Garching bei München, Germany
Tel: +49 89 320 06 761
Cell: +49 173 38 72 621
Email: lars@eso.org